To the shock of absolutely nobody, the discourse surrounding Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game immediately reached a fever pitch basically before the game went final.
The ending of the Heat-Wizard contest, specifically, has drawn the most criticism as the game devolved into something not too closely resembling basketball. Miami, aware that Bam was closing in on Kobe Bryant’s 81-point mark, began force-feeding the ball to Bam.
Washington, aware that Bam was closing in on the record, began double- and triple-teaming Bam…and still couldn’t resist fouling him.
The result was the final minutes of the game hardly resembling the game of basketball. Over the final 3:26 of the game, Adebayo shot four field goals and seven free throws, making all of the latter.
Two things can be simultaneously true.
Bam was remarkable on Tuesday. Well, well before the game devolved into whatever it became down the stretch, Bam was dominating things. For him to even be in a position to get to Kobe’s 81-point mark down the stretch required an amazing performance for the first three-and-a-half quarters.
At the same time, the ending was pretty nonsensical. This stuff tends to happen at the end of crazy scoring performances. When Devin Booker scored 70 points, he shot 11 free throws in the fourth along with 16 field goal attempts. The games tend to devolve into stat-chasing.
It doesn’t negate anything Bam did on Tuesday. I’d go as far as to say I don’t think Kobe would have any problem with it either, given his stance on similar topics in the past.
Bam had an incredible performance. Celebrate it for what it is, even if it means acknowledging some of the absurdity of how it ended.