Heat's Adebayo scores 83, second only to Wilt's 100 in NBA history

It’s Wilt, then Bam.

Bam Adebayo had a night for all time on Tuesday, with a point total second to only Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA record books. Adebayo scored 83 points, setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.

Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter and was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

His final numbers: 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range. It was a stat line unlike any other in NBA history, and a night like none other for Adebayo.

He was in tears as he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

Adebayo’s dunk with 22 seconds left in the third quarter gave him 62 points for the game, breaking the Heat single-game record of 61 set by LeBron James on March 3, 2014.

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas in 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo only needed the first half to set a career high, too.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high for a full game.

Adebayo had the NBA’s highest-scoring quarter — any quarter — since Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 for Minnesota in 2022.

Besides Towns and now Adebayo, only three other players in the last 30 seasons had at least 31 points in a quarter.

— Klay Thompson had an NBA record for any quarter with 37 for Golden State against Sacramento in 2015.

— Kevin Love had 34 for Cleveland against Portland in 2016.

— Carmelo Anthony had 33 for Denver against Minnesota in 2008.

The previous Heat record for points in a first quarter was 25, done by James at Cleveland in 2014. James had the only other 25-point quarter in Heat history, part of his team-record, 61-point game against Charlotte.


(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)