Bam Adebayo is known primarily as a top-of-the-line defensive menace, a center who can guard all players big and small. He’s certainly no slouch on offense — the three-time All-Star averages just over 16 points per game over his nine-year career with the Miami Heat — but 2026 is just the second year he’s averaging 20 ppg.
So his 83-point outburst March 10 against the woeful Washington Wizards caught the entire NBA community off guard. Sure, he’d scored at least 21 points in six straight games before that night, but his previous high for the season was 32. He’d put up 40 just once before, in 2021. And out of the blue, he’s now spoken in the same breath as Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant, two of the most prolific scorers in NBA history.
Those are the only others who have reached the 80-point plateau in an NBA game. Bryant did so on Jan. 22, 2006, going off in the second half to score 81 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 122-104 win against Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors. Chamberlain put up his legendary 100 points in the Philadelphia Warriors’ 169-147 thrashing of the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, just months after he set the previous NBA scoring record with 78.
Adebayo’s out-of-nowhere scoring bonanza was bolstered by his NBA-record free-throw numbers, especially in the second half. He took more foul shots in the third and fourth quarters than Bryant did in his entire 81-point game and nearly as many as Chamberlain did. But does that really dampen his big night? Let’s take a look at how the three games stack up.
Did Wilt Chamberlain really score 100 points in a game?
Despite internet theories to the contrary, yes, there is documented evidence that on March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game that wasn’t televised Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s the most points ever scored in an NBA game and a record likely to stand until the heat death of the universe. There have been only 16 games in which a player has scored an unworldly 70 points — and Wilt is responsible for six of those, including two of the four highest-scoring games in league history.
Like Adebayo, Chamberlain got off to a roaring start, scoring 23 points in the first quarter and putting up 41 going into halftime thanks in large part to the Knicks playing without their starting center. That’s a little behind Bam’s explosive start, as the Heat center put up a whopping 31 in the first quarter and 47 by the half. Both are stark contrasts to Bryant, who had a relatively pedestrian 26 points in the first half being exploding for 55 after the break (27 in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth). Those points were necessary too, as the Lakers trailed by 18 points early in the second half.
How many free throws did Bam Adebayo shoot?
Adebayo got off to a white-hot start, but he got to 83 thanks to an absurd amount of foul shots. The center took an NBA-record 43 free throws, beating the 39 that Dwight Howard took in 2012 and 2013 games. While Howard made 21 and 23 of those 39 attempts, respectively, Adebayo took advantage by hitting a record 36, going a jaw-dropping 83.7% from the charity stripe. The 36 made foul shots beat Adrian Dantley, who went 28 of 29 in a 1984 game for the Utah Jazz.
Adebayo went 3 of 8 for seven points from the field in the fourth quarter, but he still wound up with 83 because he went 14 of 16 from the foul line. In the second half, he went 24 of 29 in his free throws. Bam is a solid but not exceptional free-throw shooter with a .759 career free-throw percentage whose career-best for a season is .806.
Bryant and Chamberlain also got a lot of help from the free-throw line in their big games, though obviously not to the extent that Adebayo did. Kobe went 18 of 20 in his 81-point game, while Wilt was 28 of 32 when he scored 100. Both had a better free-throw percentage than Adebayo, especially notable for Chamberlain, whose career free-throw percentage was a Shaq-like .511.
Bam Adebayo, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain box scores
So who had the best game? While Chamberlain’s dominance is unquestioned and Adebayo’s raw output is undeniably great, Bryant’s probably will be the most impressive to look back on. He shot over 60% from the field in that game and also made more than half of his 3-point attempts, all while taking over the game in what was a genuine comeback effort. By John Hollinger’s game score metric, Kobe’s 81-point game ranks third-best since the 1983-84 season at 63.5. In fairness, Adebayo’s big night comes in at No. 6 with 60.5
Here’s a look at the raw box scores for you to make your own judgment.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bam Adebayo vs Kobe Bryant vs Wilt Chamberlain. Whose game was best?
Reporting by Dan Rorabaugh, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
