It was a great weekend for Miami Heat big-man Bam Adebayo as he was selected to his third All-Star game and even started the contest because of the injury to Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. Despite the game being an exhibition, Adebayo joked about his teammates on the Eastern Conference saying that they needed to pass the ball to him as he only took two shot attempts according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.
“I gotta get teammates who pass the ball, man,” Adebayo said, poking fun at his peers on the East team. “It’s rough out there.”
There definitely was not a lack of offense as the final score was a whopping 211-186, but Adebayo did not see much opportunity in the contest. The Heat star was asked after the game if he tried for his teammates to pass him the ball, but it seems like it didn't pan out.
“Man, listen. It ain’t that easy,” Adebayo said. “As much as I would love to be MVP, sometimes it’s another guy’s turn.”
Adebayo says to “tell Spo” about his three-point shooting ability
However, the one shot he did make was a memorable one as on the in-bound pass, he bounced it off of Nikola Jokic's back and made a pull-up three-point shot. He addressed this after the game and because this is a part of his arsenal fans rarely see, he jokingly mentioned to let Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra know about that.
“Tell Spo,” Bam said about the three-point shot. “Pull the clip up, show Spo.”
As a whole, Adebayo scored three points, collecting two rebounds, and recorded two assists. Besides the lack of opportunity, he said how he is “blessed to try to make this a routine” and how the event is a “fun opportunity” according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“A fun opportunity,” Adebayo said. “Always blessed to come back. Always blessed to try to make this a routine and being able to be in my third, seeing the guys that I’ve come into the league with. We keep seeing each other at this thing.”
Adebayo cementing himself with Heat legends
Adebayo is the first Heat player to start an All-Star game since Dwayne Wade did it back in 2016 and is one of six other players in franchise history to be selected three or more times. Besides the 26-year old, the others are Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. He talked about being a part of a group with legends of the team he represents.
“Respect, at the end of the day,” Adebayo said. “Being able to, obviously, get to this thing three times, you want it to become a routine. You want it to be an every year thing. For me, it’s just respect from all the coaches who voted me in and respect for who I am and what I do.”
“It’s a stepping stone to what you want at the end of your career,” Adebayo continued. ”When you look back at it and be like, ‘I gave basketball everything.’ But for the end of the year, you want to go from All-Star to All-NBA, championships, DPOY [Defensive Player of the Year], whatever the case may be. Because you feel like you’ve done one thing, why not try to do something else.”
Adebayo addresses lack of competition in All-Star game
Adebayo also touched on the viral topic of conversation surrounding the All-Star game where it is not competitive in the slightest. He addressed both sides of the argument saying “it's hard” since players don't want to get hurt in a relatively meaningless game for the rest of the season.
“It’s hard,” Adebayo said. “Because obviously you don’t want anybody to get hurt. For it to be more competitive, I don’t know the answer. I was just out there, having fun, playing basketball, doing what we love to do.”
This season, Adebayo is averaging 20.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 51 percent from the field. The Heat are looking to make some noise after the break as they are 30-25 which puts them seventh in the Eastern Conference as their next game is on Friday, Feb. 23 against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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