Recently, the Miami Heat were the center of the basketball world when center Bam Adebayo put together an unbelievable 83-point game against the Washington Wizards, giving him the second-highest scoring game in league history. The game predictably led to a slew of discourse about how “ethical” Adebayo and the Heat's methods were, but it was still a historic achievement for Miami's long-time defensive anchor.
On Monday, the NBA announced its players of the week for the past seven days, and to the surprise of no one, Adebayo received the honor for the Eastern Conference, as reported by league insider Marc Stein on X, formerly Twitter.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic won the award for the Western Conference.
While Adebayo is a multi-time All-Star and has had his fair share of scoring nights, few could have predicted that he would be the player to even challenge, let alone break, Kobe Bryant's mark of 81 points for the second-highest scoring game in league history. Adebayo now only stands behind Wilt Chamberlain, who once scored 100 points in a game.
Meanwhile, the Heat are looking to bounce back after they recently saw their seven-game winning streak snapped by the Orlando Magic. The Heat and Magic are in a race to see who can nab the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, with Orlando currently holding a slight edge in that department, and on a winning streak of their own.
While Miami certainly isn't relying on Adebayo to break records on a nightly basis, the game against Washington was a great demonstration of what an elite scorer he can be when he puts his mind to it, especially when a common criticism of the star has been his lack of aggression at times throughout his career.
The Heat will next take the floor on Tuesday evening for an important game vs the Charlotte Hornets.
