The NBA world has been divided from the moment Bam Adebayo dropped an 83-point masterclass last night to lead the Heat to a 150-129 win over the Wizards. Some analysts and famous voices believe that Adebayo was stat-padding and does not deserve the same respect as Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance. Among them was Stephen A. Smith.
“It’s the Washington Wizards. Ladies and gentlemen, they are an atrocity. They are god-awful. They make it easy for us to stomach politics coming out of Washington cuz they’re worse. They’re horrible,” said Smith on the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Stephen A. Smith Show.’
“And you know what makes it even worse and what makes it appropriate for me to say what I just said about the Washington Wizards? They actually looked like they were helping Bam Adebayo capture the record. They were extending the game.”
“Why would you foul Bam out of bio late in the game like that? Why would you do that? Why would you do that for? Why would you just sit up there and try to force him to miss a shot? What are you fouling him for?”
“Okay, the Washington Wizards will live in infamy for this because they’re that awful. And Ime Udoka was right to bring it up.”
While fans initially criticized Udoka for throwing shade at Adebayo’s performance, Smith agreed that his point about it being against the Wizards was worth considering when comparing the Heat center’s 83-point outburst to Kobe Bryant’s 81-point night.
“Now, this is an opponent from another team sitting up there and saying, “It’s the Wizards.” That basically tells you about the citizens of DC. No wonder you ain’t a damn state. You’re the District of Columbia.”
“I think about the late great Jesse Jackson. God rest his soul. So, remember the phrase he would use, ‘no taxation without representation.’ You don’t even have a representative. I wonder why. Because the wizards are there, one could easily argue on this particular morning cuz the wizards are there, that’s why.”
“We’ve seen a lot of things taking place in the nation’s capital. A lot of things that make us want to puke. This was one of them. Just no defense whatsoever. Just horrible,” concluded Smith on the Wizards.
But Smith also agreed with Kevin Durant, who said that this performance would never be forgotten in NBA history.
Adebayo stuffed the box score on his historic night with nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks to go with his 83 points. He shot 20-43 from the field (46.5 FG%), 7-22 from beyond the arc (31.8 3P%), and 36-43 from the free-throw line (83.7 FT%).
Stephen A. Smith also expressed his displeasure with the Heat’s coaching staff, singularly calling out their head coach, Erik Spoelstra.
“Coach Erik Spoelstra… who’s a great coach, didn’t look that great last night trying to facilitate Bam Adebayo getting the record, challenging calls, losing challenges, just because they recognized history was in the making.”
“That ain’t how Kobe did it!” yelled Smith before giving credit to Adebayo for bringing A’ja Wilson along for his press conference. “At the end of the day, to be up 25 points, clearly chasing numbers, that’s not how Kobe did it.”
“When we compare it, there have to be three on the list… Kobe goes down as the single greatest performance we have ever witnessed. Wilt has to be the number two because 100 is 100. Bam gotta be number three.”
“The bottom line is, he did it. Much respect to Bam… Look, he deserved credit for it, we just have to keep it a buck and understand there are levels to these kinds of performances,” Smith said.
To be fair, the Raptors were 14-26 (.350) when Kobe Bryant dropped 81 against them. And the Wizards are currently 16-48 (.250) after last night’s loss. Therefore, the Raptors were not much better off than where the Wizards are at the moment.
Hence, the quality of the opponent should be immaterial when it comes to giving credit to these star players for notching their names forever in the NBA’s history books. People need to stop comparing and start appreciating what Adebayo was able to do.
