Something got into Bam Adebayo on Tuesday night.
The Miami Heat star dropped a historic 83 points in the team’s 150-129 blowout win over the Washington Wizards in what was a ridiculous offensive performance at the Kesaya Center.
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Adebayo’s 83 points were the second-most scored by a player in a single game in NBA history, and the most scored by any player still in the league. Only Wilt Chamberlain, thanks to his 100-point game in 1962, has scored more in a single contest. Adebayo also surpassed former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who dropped 81 points in a single game in 2006.
It was just the 16th 70-point game in NBA history, and the first since Luka Dončić did so with the Dallas Mavericks in 2024. He’s just the 11th player in league history to record a 70-point game, and one of just six active players to do so.
Adebayo’s 83 points were the most scored in a single game in Heat franchise history, and also just the eighth 50-point game for the organization. It also easily gave him the highest scoring game from any player in the league so far this season, surpassing the 56-points that Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić dropped on Christmas Day.
After a 31-point opening quarter, Adebayo entered halftime with 43 points to his name and a statline that would have been incredibly impressive for an entire contest. He shot 13-of-24 from the field and made five 3-pointers in the first 24 minutes of the game. Adebayo’s previous career high was 41 points, so that feat was already accomplished before he hit the locker room.
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Naturally, Adebayo accounted for much of the team’s offense in the first half. They carried a 14-point lead into the third quarter, and Simone Fontecchio was the only other player to hit double figures — he had 11 points — in the first half. No other player had more than three made field goals, and Adebayo accounted for nearly two-thirds of the team’s made 3-pointers. His 43 points were the most points scored in any half by a player in Heat history.
But perhaps the biggest moment of the first half was a massive two-handed dunk that Adebayo threw down through Wizards center Alex Sarr.
Adebayo didn’t slow down in the second half, either. He surpassed Jokić’s mark midway through the third quarter with a pair of free throws, which got him to 58 points on the night. He ended the third quarter with 62 points, and kept the Heat well out in front.
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Adebayo’s final points of the third quarter, which he got on a breakaway one-handed dunk, broke the franchise single-game scoring record previously set by LeBron James and matched Kobe Bryant’s play-by-play era scoring record.
Though it almost certainly wasn’t needed, Adebayo started the fourth quarter and kept right on going. He hit the 70-point mark while fighting to the rim and powering in a layup through contact with more than nine minutes left in the game.
Adebayo passed Chamberlain’s second-highest scoring outing with a pair of free throws with about two minutes left on the clock. He then hit two more free throws, his 33rd and 34th of the night, to match Bryant’s 81-point outing.
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But Adebayo didn’t stop there, either. He kept attacking, and drew another foul with 1:16 left in the game to surpass Bryant’s mark. With 83 points in the books, head coach Eric Spoelstra finally pulled Adebayo from the contest.
Adebayo finished shooting 20-of-43 from the field and 7-of-22 from the 3-point line. He went 36-of-43 from the free throw line, too, which shattered the previous record of 28 made free throws in a single game that was set by Adrian Dantley back in 1984.
Adebayo entered the night averaging 18.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season, his ninth with the Heat.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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