Bam Adebayo responded to criticism following his historic 83-point performance for the Miami Heat, which became the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. The star center defended his approach after some questioned the ethics of how the record-breaking night unfolded.
Bam Adebayo made NBA history earlier this week after dropping 83 points for the Miami Heat, the second-highest scoring game in league history.
Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo
MIN: 31.73
PTS: 20.03 (53.22%)
REB: 9.78
AS: 2.9
ST: 1.1
BL: 0.69
TO: 1.75
GM: 59
The historic outing quickly sparked debate across the basketball world. Some critics questioned the way the points came, pointing to Adebayo's 43 free throw attempts and moments late in the game when Miami fouled intentionally to create more possessions.
Others even argued that the Heat star should have checked out of the game before surpassing Bryant's mark out of respect. Adebayo, however, pushed back on that idea after Miami's 112-105 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, where he finished with 21 points and eight rebounds.
"I'm like, 'Listen, I'm a Kobe fan. I got close to his record. What do you think I'm gonna do? Try to break it?' I'm pretty sure if I had 81 and Kobe was on his way, he was not being like, 'You know what, I'm gonna check myself out with nine minutes left, but I got 70.' Be serious," Adebayo said.
Credit Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix
Despite the mixed reactions online, the 28-year-old Heat star is still processing the magnitude of what he accomplished.
"For the last 48 hours, it's kind of like, I'm kind of in awe of myself," Adebayo added. "Because someone will ask, 'What's my career-high?' You're like 83. And this isn't like the YMCA, this is the highest level of basketball…it's still a pinch me moment. And, like Kobe said, 'You've got to be in shape. You've got to have great endurance, be in shape, and really catch that.' And I understand it now, because the next game is the one you got to worry about."
The performance moved him past Kobe Bryant's famous 81-point night in 2006, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game from 1962.
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