Overview:
Bam Adebayo delivered a historic performance for the Miami Heat, scoring 83 points in a 150–129 victory over the Washington Wizards — the second-highest single-game total in NBA history. The stunning effort surpassed the legendary 81-point game by Kobe Bryant, trailing only the iconic 100-point night by Wilt Chamberlain. Along the way, Adebayo also set new NBA records for free throws made and attempted in a single game, cementing one of the most remarkable scoring displays the league has ever seen.
(ABC-Australia) Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo has scored 83 points, the second-best scoring effort in NBA history, while also setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game during a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.
Adebayo had 31 points in the first quarter, 43 by half-time and 62 by the end of the third quarter. He finished 20 for 43 from the field, 36 for 43 from the foul line and 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
Adebayo’s free throw makes and attempts both set NBA records for a game. The record for attempts was 39 by Dwight Howard, who got to the line that many times on two occasions.
The record for free throws made in a game was 28, set by Wilt Chamberlain and Adrian Dantley.
Chamberlain made the 28 free throws on the night he scored 100 points in 1962 — the only game better than Adebayo’s in NBA history.
Adebayo passed his basketball idol, Kobe Bryant, for the second-highest scoring game ever — Bryant’s career-best was 81.
LeBron James had the previous Heat single-game scoring mark, with his 61-point effort against Charlotte on March 3, 2014. Denver’s Nikola Jokic had the previous season high in the NBA this season with 56.
Adebayo passed them both in the third quarter — and just kept going.
He was in tears as he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after”.
AP