While plenty of NBA figures celebrated Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo’s historic 83 points, a good segment of the negativity stemmed from fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. It was Bryant’s 81 points that Adebayo surpassed, and count former Lakers forward and former teammate of Bryant, Robert Horry, as someone who wasn’t exactly thrilled about the performance.
During a segment on Spectrum SportsNet, Robert Horry lambasted Bam Adebayo’s 83 points, citing the perceived way in which he reached the historic feat during the Heat’s win against the Washington Wizards.
“83 points is impressive. But it gets to a point where you have to respect the game. And I think there were moments in this game where it was not respected,” Horry said. “83 points is a lot, I appreciate the effort, and it’s going to go down as the second-most in the game. But it’s like you always say on certain things, it should have an asterisk by it, I’m putting an asterisk by this one. It’s still a lot. I’m not taking away anything from Bam, it’s a lot.”
What Horry was no doubt referring to was the ending of the game in which the Heat committed intentional fouls to extend the game and gain extra possessions to help Adebayo break Bryant’s record.
Adebayo’s historic night gives him the second-most points scored by an individual player behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100. He is now only one of three players to have reached 80 or more points in a single game. Meanwhile, there are a few players who have hit the 70 and up mark including current players Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard, as well as former players in Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson and David Thompson.
