The NBA world, including LeBron James and Kevin Durant, quickly took notice when word got out that Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo was on his way to a historic scoring night as he surpassed a mark set by the late, great Kobe Bryant.
Adebayo went off in the first quarter, en route to 31 points to eclipse LeBron’s previous franchise record of 25 points in a quarter. However, the Heat star didn’t stop there, continuing to hit bucket after bucket, including threes, drives in the lane, and jumpshots.
The outcome was that Bam Adebayo scored 83 points, thanks to a strategy that included his coach leaving him up until about the final minute of the fourth quarter. His final line had him going 20-of-43 from the field, including 7-of-22 from three-point range, and 36-of-43 from the free throw line.
The 83-point game pushed him past Kobe in the record books as the second-most points scored in a game, behind only another legend: Wilt Chamberlain, who still holds the iconic 100-point game.
Following his game against the Houston Rockets, Durant spoke about seeing Bam’s accomplishment on Wednesday evening, saying he was initially in disbelief about the mark.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was hearing it in real time…Congratulations to Bam, I know how much work he puts in,” Durant told reporters postgame.
Durant also said he thought what he saw on the stat sheet was “pretty crazy” with “40 shots,” “40 free throws,” and “20 threes” as part of Bam’s historic performance.
“That takes a lot of stamina, a lot of energy to go out there and get those shots and also make them, set a record. Surpass Kobe as the second-highest scoring player in the history of the game. I mean, damn, congrats to him. Huge huge accomplishment. Something we’ll talk about forever,” KD said.
KD has never reached 60 points in his career, with his career best coming in a 2022 game against the Atlanta Hawks. Durant, then playing for the Brooklyn Nets, scored 55 while going 19-of-28 from the field, including 8-of-10 three-pointers.
Bam’s Heat won their home game, 150-129 over the 16-48 Washington Wizards. With the game in Miami, Bam was able to celebrate his moment immediately after the game with teammates on the court in front of the home fans.
Durant had a decent scoring night of his own, going for 29 points on 12-of-16-shooting, including four of the five threes he attempted. His team downed the Toronto Raptors, 113-99, to go 40-24 on the season.
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