Wilt Chamberlain has some new company – and from an unlikely source.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in a 150-129 home win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, March 10, becoming the second-highest scorer in an NBA game next to Chamberlain’s infamous 100 points. Late Lakers star Kobe Bryant held the previous second-high mark with 81 points on Jan. 22, 2006.
Adebayo also set a new franchise record for most points in a single game, surpassing LeBron James’ 62 points. And he set NBA records with 36 made free throws and 43 attempts. He shot 20-for-43 from the floor – 22 were 3-point attempts.
“It’s a special moment,” Adebayo said. “It’s Wilt, me, then Kobe, which sounds crazy.”
Adebayo scored 31 points in the first quarter and 43 in the first half. That’s when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra decided to help Bam score as many points as possible.
“You’re caught up in the moment like everyone else. And I didn’t want to get in the way. And I damn for sure wasn’t going to take him out,” said Spoelstra, whose team was leading by 16 entering the fourth quarter. “Once he got to 40, I didn’t go anywhere near him … who knew I would be superstitious?”
Adebayo, 28, is a three-time All-Star and two-time gold medalist whose previous high in an NBA game was 41 points.
He took 43 shots against the Wizards, who have the NBA’s worst defense and have now lost nine games in a row. Chamberlain attempted 63 shots against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962 – in a game played in Hershey, Pa. Wilt The Stilt took 21 shots in the fourth quarter alone while chasing the century mark.
“The last six minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter I was a fan,” Spoelstra said. “This one came out of nowhere. This one snuck up on us. It snuck up on all of us. Once it kept on going, we knew we could be part of something special.”
Adebayo never met Bryant but thought about the former Lakers star after his record-setting night.
“I wonder what he would say, to be 83 and pass him, my mind is like, what would he say to me? ‘Cause I always wanted to have a conversation with him,” Adebayo said. “He would probably tell me to do it again. Just a surreal moment to be in the company of somebody you idolized growing up.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bam Adebayo scores 83! Heat center nets second-highest total in game
Reporting by Nick Pugliese, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
