In a move that no NBA fan saw coming, No. 13 Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat made history on March 10 and etched his name into history.
Adebayo would score a near-record 83 points against the Washington Wizards, surpassing the legendary Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Doing it on a 46.5 field goal percentage, this makes Adebayo’s score the second-highest for a single game in NBA history.
However, few could have predicted such a feat for a player who has never been viewed as a scorer.
In his nine-year NBA career, aside from his Olympic Gold Medal and two NBA Finals appearances in 2020 and 2023, respectively, Adebayo has never averaged more than 21 points.
Before even heading into the game against Washington, Adebayo’s career high wasn’t even half of 83, being his 41-point game against the Brooklyn Nets in 2021.
This most recent performance now puts Adebayo only behind the great Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962 against the New York Knicks for the most points ever scored in an NBA game.
Despite people attempting to discredit the stat line by pointing out Adebayo’s number of free throws, it is still impressive nonetheless, especially in the modern NBA.
Now, with Miami looking to crack the top five in the Eastern Conference, fans hope the team can continue to ride this wave of momentum.
With his co-stars, No. 24 Norman Powell and No. 14 Tyler Herro, it is certainly a possibility.
Although at this point, only time will tell what will come out of this history-making game.
