Tearful Bam Adebayo hugs mom at court side after ‘crazy’ & ‘surreal’ 83-point night in second best NBA performance ever
BAM Adebayo exploded for 83 points as the Miami Heat blew out the Washington Wizards.
Fans packed into Kaseya Center witnessed history as Adebayo scored the second-highest number of points in a game by one player in NBA history.
Only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point haul against the New York Knicks in 1962 betters the 83 that Adebayo managed last night.
The center’s huge scoring night overtook the previous second-highest number of 81 set by Kobe Bryant against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Adebayo, 28, scored 31 points the first 12 minutes alone, a tally only bettered in a single quarter in the last 30 years by Klay Thompson, Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony.
He then added 12 in the second quarter, 19 in the third and 21 in the fourth.
The three-time All-Star also set new records for most free throws attempted and made in a single NBA game.
Adebayo went to the line a staggering 43 times, making 36 of them.
He went 20 of 43 from the field, making seven of 22 attempts from three.
The former All-Defensive First Team selection stayed in the game for much of the fourth quarter despite the game being a blowout as he chased history.
After his team’s 150-129 victory Adebayo hugged mom Marilyn and his girlfriend, WNBA superstar A’ja Wlson.
He then appeared for his post-game presser alongside Wilson, who was watching her first game since returning from a European tour with Nike.
“It’s Wilt, me, then Kobe, which sounds crazy,” Adebayo said.
“They’ve seen me at the lowest, at the bottom of the bottom, trying to figure out how to really pick myself up,” he added of his friends.
“To have this moment and share it with all them, it’s a pretty emotional moment.”
Adebayo’s feat sparked several different responses from around the league.
His coach Erik Spoelstra admitted, “I didn’t dare even think about taking him out.”
While Wizards head coach Brian Keefe huffed, “In the fourth quarter it turned into not a real basketball game.”
Following the Houston Rockets’ 113-99 triumph over the Toronto Raptors, Kevin Durant gave his take.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was hearing it in real time,” Durant said. “Congratulations to Bam… I looked at his stats, it’s pretty crazy.
“Forty shots, 40 free throws, 20 3s… To pass Kobe as the second-highest scorer in the history of the game, congrats to him… Something we’ll talk about forever.”
Appearing on NBA TV Damian Lillard, who is out for this season with a torn Achilles, joked, “When we were at the Olympics — this is a true story — Bam was like, ‘I’m trying to average 30.’ I literally said to him, ‘You think you’re a 30-point scorer like that?’
“He was like, ‘What do you mean?’ When I was watching him (tonight) I’m like ‘maybe he knew something I didn’t know.’”
