JJ Redick, Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo delivered one of the most unusual scoring nights the NBA has seen in years on Tuesday, and JJ Redick quickly became part of the conversation afterward, Basket News reports.
The Miami Heat center erupted for 83 points in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards, producing the second-highest single-game scoring total in league history. His total moved past Kobe Bryant’s iconic 81-point game and immediately triggered reactions across the league.
Inside Crypto.com Arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers finished a 120-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, fans did not welcome that update warmly. When the arena announcer shared that Adebayo had moved past Bryant’s mark, boos spread through the building.
Redick, though, admitted he initially had no idea what was unfolding.
“Well, I’ll have to watch the tape,” he said while laughing. “I mean, it’s incredible what he was able to do. I walked in, he was at the free-throw line, and I saw the score. They’ve been playing great basketball lately. And I said to my coaching staff, ‘Oh, Heat are rolling!’”
He then described the moment his assistants corrected him.
“They all kind of looked at each other, they’re like, ‘Are you kidding right now?’ I was like, ‘No, what’s up? They’re 36 and 28 or whatever, and they’re getting ready to be 37 and 28.’ And they were like, ‘No, Bam has 77.’ And I was like, ‘Huh?’ Then I watched the last three minutes, and that was a different type of basketball.”
Free Throws Became the Center of the Conversation
That final line immediately stood out because much of the debate around Adebayo’s historic total centered on how the game ended.
Miami repeatedly extended possessions late, and Washington kept fouling as Adebayo chased the number. He finished with 36 made free throws on 43 attempts, both new NBA records. That volume pushed him beyond marks previously held by Wilt Chamberlain and Dwight Howard.
He also became only the second player ever to pair at least 20 made field goals with 25 made free throws in one game, joining Chamberlain in another rare statistical category.
Adebayo’s scoring pace had already turned heads long before the fourth quarter. He scored 31 points in the opening quarter, tied for the fifth-highest quarter total in league history, then reached 43 by halftime.
NBA Reactions Quickly Shifted Beyond the Number
By the end of the third quarter, Adebayo had already piled up 62 points, matching Bryant for the most through three quarters in the digital play-by-play era.
Still, many around the league focused less on the final number and more on how it arrived.
Ime Udoka summed up that reaction bluntly.
“The first thing you think is, how? Because of the way he plays,” Udoka said. “I saw he only made 6 threes but 40 free throws or something like that, tells the story right there… and the Washington Wizards.”
That combination, six made threes, relentless foul trips, and a late-game push for history, explains why Redick’s description landed so quickly online.
His wording did not dismiss the achievement. It simply captured what many watching already felt, this was history, but it unfolded in a way the league does not often see.