Did we just see that?!
Yes. Yes we did. I had to wipe my screen 83 different times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
This random Tuesday in March wasn’t just any Tuesday in March.
Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo reached basketball immortality in the Miami Heat’s 150-129 win, scoring 83 points and becoming the NBA’s second-highest scorer for a single game, breaking Kobe Bryant’s infamous 81-point game in 2005-06.
We just watched history — NBA History — perhaps something none of us may never see in our lives again.
Adebayo shot 20-of-43 from the floor and 7-of-22 from 3-point range. By the middle of the third quarter, you could tell he had zero legs, especially since, at that point, most of his jumpers were heavily contested.
By the fourth quarter, Washington was triple-teaming the three-time All-Star. Though as tired as Adebayo was, he relentlessly attacked and got to the charity stripe.
Adebayo attempted 43 free throws; but hey, as long as the Wizards kept mauling him, he kept totaling points there. He also left seven points at the charity stripe; in an alternate universe, he gets 90!!!
To think he was only 17 points away from Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points gives me a headache. It’s not every day that you turn on a game and expect a player to pass Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game.
In fact, that’s never happened.
But Bam Adebayo, you did it. Congratulations.
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Great game to witness, we will look back at it as the game that catapulted bam into superstardom.
CONGRATULATIONS BAM!!! GREAT JOB!!! ENJOY BASKING IN THE GLORY…YOU DESERVE IT!!!
GO HEAT!!!
I started texting with my dad midway through the 3rd quarter. We spent an hour on the phone watching this game together. I had forgotten what a big game for the Heat feels like! Hopefully this is a step towards a playoff run, and not the peak of another play-in season