I took a sleeping pill at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The effects kicked in not long after. Beyond then, my memory is hazy.
Either I passed out and had an odd dream about the NBA. Or my real-life phone blew up with texts from people in the league, from childhood friends, from executives, each message exuding the same tone:
Dude, are you watching Bam Adebayo?!
I checked the box score of the Miami Heat game. Adebayo had nearly 60 points with time to go in the third quarter. I read through blurred vision that he dropped 31 in the first period.
No way was this real. It must have been the Ambien.
If only to fact check, I got out of bed, dragged my feet to my iPad, called up League Pass and dialed an NBA friend who was watching, too. By this point, it was the Adebayo show — for the most part. On one play late, with Adebayo sitting on 60-something points, within range of Kobe Bryant’s iconic 81, the Miami center received the ball on the left wing without a defender near him. He could have justified the shot. The Heat were trouncing the poor Washington Wizards. Instead, he waited for a close-out and passed to a teammate in the corner for an open 3-pointer.
It was classic Adebayo. Unselfish. Always making the correct basketball play. Even when anyone would have understood if he prioritized history. It’s why I questioned the veracity of these texts. How was this pass-first defensive menace — who revamped his offensive game this season, shooting more 3-pointers than ever and not relying on his patented dribble handoffs nearly as often (but still averages 18.9 points per game) — the one who would challenge Bryant?
Those types of plays must be why his teammates reacted the way they did throughout Tuesday’s fourth quarter, one in which Adebayo eventually reached Bryant’s milestone and then passed it. At one point, Adebayo drove to the hoop, thought he got fouled but instead got called for a charge.
Turnover. Wizards ball.
Washington finally, after all those points, got a stop.
Yet, the moment Adebayo’s hip touched the ground, the rest of the team — the other four Heat players on the court, each member of the bench, head coach Erik Spoelstra, the assistants — began to twirl their index fingers with gusto. I haven’t seen every challenge in NBA history, and I’m likely unqualified to make such a grand statement while medicated, but this was the most obvious “You’ve got to challenge here, even though you know you’re going to lose it” moment in league history.
The Heat were up big. It was late. And they did lose the challenge. But most importantly, it was a signal of what Adebayo means to this organization. Each person on his side pushed for Miami’s captain to rewrite the history books.
The game’s end was an unusual sight, if only because Adebayo is anything but an inorganic basketball player.
He’s been Miami’s defensive backbone for years. He should be headed for another All-Defense appearance this season. He’s one of the world’s savviest passing big men. He’s smooth from mid-range and getting there from beyond the arc. He hasn’t set a legal pick since the Eisenhower administration, which makes him one of the best screen-setters of his generation.
Before the Heat renovated their offense last summer, Spoelstra met with Adebayo to pick his brain on what he thought could work schematically. He’s just not just a player in Miami. He’s a figure. Make fun of “Heat Culture” all you want, point out that Adebayo isn’t Nikola Jokić or Luka Dončić or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, not the hub anyone would roll the ball to and tell to do his thing (at least, not until Tuesday night), but Adebayo is a driver behind one of the league’s most stable organizations — and a foundation of its no-nonsense locker room.
Still, some nonsense occurred during the final 12 minutes of Tuesday’s game.
After a fourth quarter of Adebayo chucking up 3-pointers that even Stephen Curry wouldn’t dare to release; after drive after drive led to foul after foul and free throw after free throw; after Adebayo got into the 70s and the Wizards started triple-teaming him, abandoning any semblance of their defensive principles with the sole goal of not becoming Tracy Stallard; after Washington forced the ball out of the center’s hands late, then intentionally fouled his teammate just to avoid an Adebayo shot, the three-time All-Star made history anyway.
Eighty-three points. On 20-of-43 shooting from the field, 7-of-22 from deep and a dreamlike 36-of-43 from the line. The second-highest scoring game for any player in NBA history. Only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point night tops him.
At least, I think that’s what happened. I could be hallucinating.