On Tuesday evening, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo had a night for the history books by scoring 83 points against the Washington Wizards, the second-highest total in NBA history. The epic game moves him past Kobe Bryant, who dropped 81 on the Toronto Raptors in January 2006, with only Wilt Chamberlain now ahead of him, having scored 100 points.
Adebayo has been in a highly publicized relationship with WNBA star A'Ja Wilson for quite some time now, and the reigning Finals MVP was in attendance to watch Adebayo torch the Wizards on Tuesday in Miami. In fact, according to a post from Legion Hoops on X, formerly Twitter, both Wilson and Adebayo now hold the active scoring records for their respective leagues.
Adebayo's, of course, was Tuesday's 83-point evisceration of the Wizards, while Wilson scored 53 points against the Atlanta Dream back in 2023.
Adebayo's huge night has opened up an array of discourse in the NBA world, with some opining that the method by which he got the 83 points, including over 40 free-throw attempts, and the team keeping him in the game well into garbage time in an attempt to hunt the record, was not necessarily “ethical.”
However, years from now, fans will likely remember the historic point total, and not the means by which it was obtained.
Meanwhile, the Heat's win over the Wizards gave them their sixth straight victory and moved them into a virtual tie with the Toronto Raptors for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. While that's as high as Miami will likely be able to get before the bracket solidifies, it's still been an impressive turnaround for a Heat team that has not always been a model of consistency this season.
The Heat will next take the floor on Thursday evening for a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
