You’d imagine an NBA player would be celebrated universally for an 80-point game, but that hasn’t been the case when it comes to Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo. Adebayo racked up 83 points, the second-most in a single game in NBA history, in the Heat’s 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, but the fact that he attempted 43 free throws is being held against him.
It is one of the reasons why Adebayo’s incredible achievement is being diminished in some corners, but Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo thinks the number of free throws does not matter. Antetokounmpo was asked if he knew about the performance in his media session following the Bucks’ 129-114 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
“I heard guys,” Antetokounmpo said. “83. Incredible. Incredible. Speaks volumes in his hard work. I haven’t seen the game. I have to watch the game and see.”
It was then brought up that Adebayo went 36-43 from the line, and Antetokounmpo dismissed the comment.
“It doesn’t matter how you get there,” Antetokounmpo stated. “All that means that you got it. Like in 10, 20, 30 years from now, nobody’s going to remember how many free throws he shot. I don’t think I remember how many shots Kobe [Bryant] shot or how many free throws he made or threes. All you remember is 81. Wilt [Chamberlain], 100. You don’t remember that. So, at the end of the day, he got 83 points.”
Antetokounmpo is pretty much on point here. Because of all the outrage about Adebayo’s free throws, there has been a focus on how Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant scored 100 and 81 points, respectively. If you’d asked the average fan a week ago, though, they would have had absolutely no idea how many field goals and free throws Chamberlain and Bryant attempted. All they would have known was 100 and 81.
In case you haven’t looked it up yet, Chamberlain got to 100 for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, by going 36-63 from the field and 28-32 from the free throw line. Bryant then put up 81 for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, by going 28-46 from the field, 7-13 from beyond the arc, and 18-20 from the line.
Adebayo wasn’t as efficient as these two, as he went 20-43 from the field, 7-22 from beyond the arc, and, of course, 36-43 from the line. To go with the free throws, criticism has also come the Heat’s way for intentionally fouling the Wizards and keeping the 28-year-old in the game when the contest was all but over.
Well, the Warriors were fouling the Knicks back then, too, for Chamberlain. As for Bryant, he played almost the entire fourth quarter against the Raptors despite the Lakers leading by double digits in the final minutes.
Was it pretty what Adebayo and the Heat were doing down the stretch? No, it wasn’t, but all this talk about there needing to be an asterisk next to this performance is absurd. At the end of the day, this man scored 83 points in an NBA game and deserves respect. The fact that the Heat won the game is another positive in Antetokounmpo’s eyes.
“Great way to help your team win a game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I know that his family, his close friends, they’re extremely excited and happy for him. And again, speaks volume in his hard work. I know Bam. He works his butt off every single day. He never cheats the game, and seeing a guy like him doing something like this is incredible.”
Funnily enough, the Bucks take on the Heat next at Kaseya Center on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Antetokounmpo joked they’ll be holding Adebayo to 82 points that night.
