Additional Coverage:
- Heat’s Bam Adebayo on criticism of his 83-point game: ‘If you are mad, I don’t care’ (cbssports.com)
Bam Adebayo Shrugs Off “Couch Coaches” After Historic 83-Point Night
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo isn’t losing any sleep over the criticism surrounding his recent 83-point explosion. Following a dominant performance that saw him etch his name into the NBA record books, Adebayo is firing back at those who accuse him of “stat-chasing,” suggesting they direct their complaints elsewhere.
After the Heat’s 112-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, Adebayo addressed reporters, playfully deflecting blame for his record-setting night onto Washington Wizards coach Brian Keefe. “First of all, y’all are blaming me,” Adebayo stated.
“You should be blaming their head coach. Get that first.
I was not the one letting me go one-on-one the whole game until I had 70 and then you started to send a double.”
Adebayo continued, emphasizing the irresistible pull of history once he reached a significant scoring milestone. “At that point, I got 70 with, like, what, nine minutes left to go in the game?
You think I’m not going for it? And that’s the thing that’s crazy when they talk about the ‘unethical’ part of the basketball.
I’m like, if I have 70 with nine minutes to go, who would just be like, ‘You know, Coach, just take me out.’ Yeah, right.
Anybody in my shoes with nine minutes left? OK, a minute, alright.
Nine? Yeah, I’m going for it.
You can’t be mad at that. If you are mad, I don’t care.”
The historic evening unfolded during Miami’s 150-129 win against the Wizards. With 9:05 remaining in the fourth quarter, Adebayo sank a free throw for his 70th point, clearly setting his sights on surpassing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance and securing the second spot on the single-game scoring list.
Adebayo believes much of the backlash stems from envy. “A lot of people, they’re upset because, if they did play, they never had a chance to get that close to chasing greatness,” he explained.
“And then if you get that close to chasing greatness, that’s the point of chasing it. So you can surpass it.
And some of the people have never played basketball. So, like, if you’ve been in the backyard and you and a couple of your homies have been playing 21 and you got 19, you’re not going to get an easy look off.”
His 83 points included an impressive 36-for-43 effort from the free-throw line, with 14 of those coming in the final quarter. Adebayo quickly dismissed any notion that this reliance on free throws diminishes his achievement.
“They’re going to talk about the free throws,” he said. “It’s not like I shoot 15 free throws a game.
It’s not like I average 10 free throws a game. You can watch the film.
I was legitimately getting fouled every time, so I went to the free throw line.”
Reflecting on the whirlwind, Adebayo described the preceding 48 hours as an “emotional rollercoaster,” making it challenging to simply “flip the page” to the next game. “It’s still a pinch-me moment,” he admitted, highlighting the sheer exhaustion of the record-breaking contest.
“Like Kobe said, you gotta be in shape, you gotta have great endurance and be in shape to really catch that. And I understand it now ’cause the next game is the one you gotta worry about.”
Going into the game against the Bucks, Adebayo felt the weight of expectation. “I was surrounded with the eyes because everybody wants to see if you can do it again, which is crazy ’cause I don’t think anybody will ever do it again.”
He wasn’t as efficient against Milwaukee, tallying 21 points on 6-for-20 shooting in 35 minutes, but the win was what mattered most. “It wasn’t 83 tonight, it was 21,” he said.
“If anybody’s upset, I don’t care. But we got the W, so that’s all that matters.”
As time passes, Adebayo says the magnitude of his feat continues to sink in. “I’m kind of in awe of myself,” he confessed, calling it “insane” to have his name alongside Wilt Chamberlain’s and before Bryant’s. As for the ongoing debate, he’s unfazed, much like his coach, Erik Spoelstra, who famously declared, “I apologize to no one.”
“I knew it’s a two-way street,” Adebayo concluded. “Some people are going to praise you ’cause they’re going to be like ’83 is 83 no matter how you get it.’
And it’s other people that’s going to say, ‘Well, it wasn’t the way Kobe did it.’ And you start throwing that around and I’m like, ‘Listen, I’m a Kobe fan, I got close to his record.
What do you think I’m going to do? Try to break it.’
I’m pretty sure, if I had 81 and Kobe was on his way, he was not being like, ‘You know what, I’m going to check myself out with nine minutes left and I got 70.’ Be serious.”