Don't let basketball snobs ruin Bam Adebayo's 83-point night

Bam Adebayo made NBA history Tuesday by scoring 83 points in the Miami Heat's 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It was the second-highest-scoring game in NBA history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's iconic 100-point night on March 2, 1962.

But because this is 2026 and the internet ruins everything, not everyone was impressed by Adebayo's historic outing.

That sentiment wasn't just shared by randos on the internet. A few NBA head coaches expressed their dismay at how Bam racked up his points.

Wizards head coach Brian Keefe told reporters that "the fourth quarter just turned into not a real basketball game." However, he failed to note that his team hasn't tried to field a real NBA-caliber roster this season.

Keefe did give some begrudging credit to Adebayo, at least.

"In the first half, he shot the ball terrific, he scored the ball really well," he added. "Obviously, he came out and had a little bit in the third, too. They obviously kept him in the game, and there was a lot of fouls called—16 free throws in the fourth quarter. I was trying to take the ball out of his hands, he still got some free throws 40 feet from the rim. I can’t explain some of those calls. That’s all I got to say on that."

Not everyone was quite as charitable. CBS Sports' Jack Maloney called Bam's performance "an affront to the game." WFAN's Craig Carton said it was "a disgrace to basketball."

What's overshadowing Adebayo's historic night?

Adebayo attempted an NBA-record 43 free throws against Washington—the previous single-game high was 39, set by Dwight Howard—which appears to have rubbed the "ethical hooper" crowd the wrong way. After all, Kobe Bryant attempted only 20 free throws during his 81-point night against the Toronto Raptors in 2006. Bryant shot 28-of-46 overall and 7-of-13 from three-point range in that game, while Adebayo finished 20-of-43 overall and 7-of-22 from deep against the Wizards.

Chamberlain didn't attempt a single three-pointer during his 100-point night—the NBA didn't introduce the three-point shot until the 1979-80 season—but he did finish 36-of-43 overall and 28-of-32 from the free-throw line while playing all 48 minutes of the Philadelphia Warriors' 169-147 win over the New York Knicks. Unfortunately, there's no video or play-by-play data of that game, so it's impossible to determine exactly how ethically Chamberlain racked up those points.

The good news is that there's both video and play-by-play data for Bryant's 81-point game. Some of the same criticisms of Adebayo's performance apply to that, too.

Against Toronto, Bryant scored 26 points in the first half, and the Los Angeles Lakers were trailing 63-49 at halftime. The Lakers wound up winning 122-104 after Kobe went supernova in the second half, but they didn't break the game open until late.

With that said, the Lakers went up 115-98 after Kobe made a five-foot jumper with 3:26 left. That brought him up to 74 points on the night. At that point, much like the Heat did with Adebayo on Tuesday, the Lakers were force-feeding him on virtually every possession to see how high he could go.

Bryant didn't grift in quite the same fashion as Adebayo did against Washington, but he did score his final seven points from the free-throw line that night.

Did the Heat disgrace the NBA?

Unlike the 2005-06 Lakers, the Heat were never in danger of losing Tuesday night. The Wizards aren't even bothering to field a competitive roster most nights, and the Heat have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA (no pun intended) in recent weeks.

Fueled by 31 points from Adebayo, the Heat jumped out to a 40-29 lead at the end of the first quarter. He chipped in 12 more in the second quarter to give them a 76-62 lead heading into halftime. The Heat broke the game open in the third quarter, expanding their lead as high as 27, before the Wizards battled back to trim the deficit to only 16 heading into the fourth.

That's when Adebayo's free-throw parade took over.

Adebayo shot only 3-of-8 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep in the fourth, but he went 14-of-16 from the charity stripe over his final 11 minutes. All but two of his last 14 points came from the free-throw line.

The Wizards, fully aware of what was at stake, began double- and triple-teaming Adebayo in an attempt to force the ball out of his hands. The Heat also began intentionally fouling the Wizards late in the game to give Adebayo a chance to sneak past the 80-point mark.

The outcome of the game was not in doubt by that point. The Heat went up by 20 again early in the fourth quarter and never let the Wizards get closer than that again.

Could the Heat have pulled Adebayo from the game earlier? Undoubtedly. Could the Lakers and Warriors have done the same for Bryant and Chamberlain, respectively? Also yes.

The Wizards are basically tanking performance art at this point, but they've been that way for most of the season. No one else has hung an 80-piece on them.

While some coaches, fans and media members were left unimpressed by Adebayo's stat-hunting, players around the league expressed admiration for what he accomplished.

"I looked at the stat sheet. It was pretty crazy: 40 shots, 40 free throws, 20 3s, that takes a lot of stamina, man," Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant told reporters. "It takes a lot of energy to go out there and put those shots up and also make them, set a record, surpass Kobe as the second highest-scoring player in the history of the game.

"I mean, damn. Congrats to him. Huge, huge accomplishment, something we’re going to be talking about forever."

Durant would know. He's now the sixth-highest scorer in NBA history and is only 130 points away from surpassing Michael Jordan at No. 5.

KD is the definition of a Pure Hooper. If he's blown away by what Adebayo accomplished Tuesday, not even the most cynical social media scolds among us should overshadow that.

More NBA news and analysis: