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Bam Adebayo's 83-point explosion against the Wizards was perhaps one of the most unexpected things to ever happen in NBA history. He's been known more for his defensive impact than a dominant offensive game. Seeing him in the record books ahead of Kobe Bryant's modern-day record of 81 points and behind only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 immediately led to raised eyebrows. How could this happen?
If you watched the game, you know the answer. Bam's 83 did not come within the normal flow of a normal game. A lot of strange things occurred, and the night turned into somewhat of a farce by the end.
That has led to a lot of people trying to discredit Bam's accomplishment. What that argument fails to capture is that Wilt's 100 was just as farcical, if not more. And many of the same criticisms that Bam's performance is receiving apply to Kobe Bryant's 81-point (now former) modern day record.
Bam Adebayo criticisms miss the point
Criticism: It was a meaningless game against a bad team
The Heat were playing one of the worst teams in the league in the Wizards on Tuesday. Washington has been tanking games, and this was a meaningless late-season game for them. They sat Trae Young with a sore knee and did not have their best defensive player in Anthony Davis.
While all of that is true, the Wizards do have another good defensive center in Alex Sarr, who got absolutely roasted against Adebayo. Washington was trying its best to stop Bam. They couldn't do anything.
Chamberlain and Bryant's big nights came against similarly bad teams. Wilt was playing the Knicks, who finished in last place in the East that year. Bryant's 81 came against a 27-win Raptors team that finished 29th in defense.
Championship teams usually don't give up 80-burgers. If this type of performance happens, it's probably going to be against a bad team.
MORE: Comparing Bam Adebayo's 83-point game to Kobe Bryant's 81-point game
Criticism: Bam Adebayo was stat-padding in fourth quarter
Towards the end of Tuesday's game, everyone in the building knew who the ball was going to. Bam took 43 of the team's 90 field goal attempts and 43 of their 59 free throws. They were trying to feed him every time down the stretch in order to see how high his point total could go.
Chamberlain did the same thing. He shot the ball 63 times in his 100-burger, including 21 times in the fourth quarter. He even admitted in his autobiography "Wilt" that the game eventually devolved into a stat-padding mess.
"I really think I shot too often in that 100-point game — particularly in the fourth quarter when everyone was egging me on toward 100," he wrote.
Kobe shot it 46 times to get to his 81. He took 13 of the Lakers' last 17 shots as the night got to a historic level and faced similar criticisms of ball-hogging.
| Wilt Chamberlain | 100 | 36-63 (57.1%) | 28-32 (87.5%) |
| Bam Adebayo | 83 | 20-43 (46.5%) | 36-43 (83.7%) |
| Kobe Bryant | 81 | 28-46 (60.9%) | 18-20 (90.0%) |
Criticism: The Heat were fouling to get Bam Adebayo extra possessions
Towards the end of the game, stuff got really wacky. The Heat started fouling when they were up by more than 20 in order to stop the clock. Coach Erik Spoelstra used a challenge in the fourth quarter while up 25 points to try and get a charge call reversed on Bam. It got so sloppy that the Wizards were fouling other players to get them to the line instead of Adebayo.
All of this also happened in Chamberlain's game. With six minutes left, the Knicks were intentionally fouling anyone but Wilt in order to stop him from getting the ball. New York was stalling on its offensive possessions, using as much of the clock as possible to try and limit Wilt's chances to score.
That strategy led to Chamberlain's Warriors intentionally fouling on defense in order to get the ball back for Wilt as quickly as possible.
If you thought that the techniques that the Heat were using were bad, Chamberlain's Warriors were worse.
Criticism: Too many of Bam Adebayo's points came off free throws
Bam did shoot a ton of free throws to get to his total. His 43 attempts set a record. He connected on 36 of them, which was also a record.
Chamberlain also went to the line a ton in his game. He was a notoriously poor free throw shooter, hitting only 51.1 percent for his career. The best way to stop him that night theoretically was to intentionally foul him, and the Knicks tried that. Wilt had an unusually great night at the line though, hitting 28 of his 32 attempts.
Kobe Bryant shot a more modest 20 free throws on his night, making 18 of them.
The bottom line
Nobody remembers any of these details from Wilt or Kobe's games. The criticism from Bam's game should fade too. No matter how you cut it, scoring over 80 points in an NBA game is an amazing feat which can probably only be done when things get a little crazy.
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