Bam Adebayo continues to be the talk of the town after he is now the owner of the second-highest scoring game in the history of the NBA after he recorded 83 points in a 150-129 win for the Miami Heat over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night. Adebayo is a career 16 points per game scorer who is averaging a little under 19 for the season entering Tuesday night, making him quite the improbable player to surpass Kobe Bryant's 81-point masterclass.

But amidst all the celebrations of Adebayo's historic effort, there are some who are putting the game under the microscope. Some are diminishing the 83-point night because it came against the hapless Wizards, a team that just did not stop fouling Adebayo (Adebayo took 43 free throws and made 36 of them).

Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka wondered how Adebayo, who isn't one of the best scorers in the NBA, of all people, could score 83 — which says a lot about the Wizards' defense.

“First thing you think is how, not because of him, but because of the way he plays. I saw he only made six threes but 40 free throws or something like that, tells the story right there… and the Washington Wizards,” Udoka said in his postgame presser, via @big_business_ on X (formerly Twitter).

(Adebayo made seven triples contrary to what Udoka said.)

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Wizards defense was truly suspect in Bam Adebayo's 83-point night

Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) during the first half
© Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Adebayo deserves all the credit in the world for making all the buckets he did. He went 20-43 from the field, and he made 36 free throws. But how in the world did the Wizards even allow the Heat star to take that many free throws in the first place?

They could not get their hands off of Adebayo all night long, and even in the fourth quarter, they were hacking him nearly every time he got the ball. Adebayo deserves all the praise, but the Wizards also deserve their fair share of clowning for their putrid defensive display.