Bam Adebayo, Kobe Bryant and the ethical basketball debate

Almost a year to the date before Bam Adebayo broke Kobe Bryant’s single-game modern scoring record, Nikola Jokic posted the first 30-20-20 stat line in NBA history. Teammates and coaches who spend endless hours with him were starstruck. At least one Nuggets assistant asked him to autograph a print-out of the box score. The piece of paper became a keepsake to cherish decades from now. A slice of basketball history happened on March 7, 2025, in Denver.

Jokic didn’t have 20 rebounds or 20 assists at the end of regulation. He was three assists short of the milestone, in fact. His 20th, 21st and 22nd all occurred after Denver was ahead by seven points with 80 seconds left in overtime.

I was reminded of the childlike awe and joy that overcame grown men that night as I watched Adebayo wrap up his controversial 83-point magnum opus Tuesday. The fourth quarter was a spectacle. That’s the one thing everybody can agree on. Adebayo scored his 70th point with 9:05 to go. Around that time, it became clear that Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had every intention of helping Adebayo push for 81, the hallowed number achieved by Bryant on Jan. 22, 2006.

Adebayo stayed on the court in a blowout. The Heat force-fed him the ball. The Wizards double- and triple-teamed him up the floor. But they couldn’t restrain themselves from fouling him. Bam paraded to the stripe and accepted their charity. A potential future Hall of Famer who ironically is celebrated for doing everything that doesn’t show up in a box score, he kept creeping closer to the 80-point club, previously reserved only for two of basketball’s most prolific scorers. He would undeniably look like an anomaly next to Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain.

The antics escalated throughout the fourth. Spoelstra used his coach’s challenge on an offensive foul committed by Adebayo that Miami had zero chance of overturning. Adebayo launched desperate 3s with hands in his face. Washington tried to kill the clock on offense. Miami countered by intentionally fouling with a 25-point lead. Washington rebutted by sending Keshad Johnson when he touched the ball to prevent Adebayo from getting a chance. Johnson purposefully missed a free throw to try stealing an extra possession for Adebayo.

Bam had his moment in the end. He took 43 shots and 43 free throws. He’s now responsible for the highest-scoring game since 1962, when Wilt established one of the most unbreakable records in sports with a Benjamin Franklin.

Cue the debate show segments.

To the old men yelling at a proverbial cloud about this, I hear you. Nobody is arguing that ending was “ethical basketball.” I’m simply here to say, who cares?

Nuggets coach David Adelman agrees.

“I thought it was awesome,” he said Wednesday. “People can say what they want. All the games that are like that where somebody breaks a record — I remember watching David Robinson score 73, and they kept him in up 35. Devin Booker was down 30. They kept him in (to get) 70. People have short memories. To score that many points in a game, you’re probably doing OK, or you’re doing really bad, and you’re staying out there. I know that they fouled. … But I really think from what I watched, (Adebayo) made the extra pass in the fourth quarter when he had 60. He blocked a shot. He was still playing the game. When you get to 70, I’m sorry man, like, all bets are off.”

The right combination for 83

The Philadelphia Warriors intentionally fouled to allow Chamberlain to chase 100. Bryant scored his 80th and 81st points at the foul line in the last minute when the Lakers led by 18. His last seven were free throws in a game that was ostensibly over.

Most of the greatest statistical milestones throughout NBA history can be scrutinized with qualifiers or asterisks or nitpicks. Jokic’s 30-20-20 breakthrough required an extra period. His record for the highest-scoring triple-double in league history (61) required two.

That’s how counting stats work. Fortuitous circumstances are necessary to accumulate them in unprecedented bulk within the span of one game. The next 80-piece was always going to involve some combination of a tanking opponent with undisciplined defense, a relatively tight whistle and a head coach willing to abandon ethics for the final push. (Spoelstra was the perfect bullet-proof candidate, as the longest-tenured active coach in the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB.) If you think any of that should delegitimize the difficulty of the accomplishment, then you’re crossing off a lot of capital-G Great moments from the NBA canon. Kobe’s legendary 60-point farewell game also qualifies.

“I know there are rules to this, but for me, and watching my kids watch it, I thought it was really cool,” said Adelman, who has known Spoelstra since childhood. “And I think it’s gonna be in history to say it’s Bam, after Wilt and then Kobe. Just the names up there. And on top of that, that guy is as professional as it is in our league and what he stands for in the NBA. So to take one night and kind of go a little bit crazy, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, and I think it was entertaining.”