Is 83 not better than 81?

Better Aligned by Outwork Sports Performance

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Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat postgame after scoring 83 points in a single game.

On March 10, 2026, Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat scored 83 points in a single game to stamp himself in the record books as the 2nd highest scoring performance in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain (100 pts). However, instead of the entire NBA community celebrating this achievement for Bam Adebayo, the performance sparked massive controversy all over social media. After a night filled with NBA games on March 10th, most NBA players became aware of Bam's scoring frenzy immediately after their own games. Some NBA players such as Wembanyama and Doncic surprisingly downplayed Bam Adebayo's performance but other NBA stars such as Lou Williams and Giannis Antetokoumpo came to social media to praise Bam for his achievement.

Although this is a historic night for the NBA, many people on social media discredit the NBA and Bam Adebayo for the performance. "It's unethical to the game," or "he shot over 40 free throw attempts," are major points that are being expressed on the internet. Some believe that the referee during the game helped Bam achieve this by calling excessive fouls on the opposing team. Some are just upset that Kobe Bryant's record was shattered, even though Kobe didn't have the highest performance in NBA history. Others argue that the integrity of the game was compromised in the last few minutes of the game when the Miami Heat were intentionally fouling in order to get the ball back in Bam Adebayo's hands.

The reality is that Bam Adebayo had an amazing performance from tipoff. To score 80+ points in a single game would be very difficult for any player at any level to do. Personally, I wasn't able to watch the game live, but when I heard the about the unique stat line I rushed to watch the highlights from the game. My curiosity mostly was intrigued by the negative comments I was seeing on social media. What I noticed almost instantly about Bam Adebayo's performance is the effort on defense he displayed. It ultimately takes a lot of energy to (1) score 83 points and (2) to be efficient on the defensive end at the same time. Based on this alone, it shows how much respect for the game Bam personally has. I don't know what got into him on March 10th, but this performance definitely belongs in the record books. I mean, he did actually have to make the shots right? It wasn’t as if the Washington Wizards just laid down and let him score. No team is tanking that hard. By the way, another thing that I noticed with about 2 minutes left in the game, when the Miami Heat teammates were intentionally fouling to get Bam the ball back as soon as possible, he yelled out to his teammates " DON'T FOUL." Bam understood in that moment what the critics would say about his performance if it didn't seem ethical the entire way throughout. Is this not integrity of the game? And also, to all of the naysayers, I want y'all to ask yourselves this; was Bam Adebayo not being fouled the entire game?

I want to hear some opinions on this though. Should Bam have been taken out of the game once the Miami Heat knew they were going to win the game? Did Spoelstra do the right thing by letting Bam chase Kobe's record in the 4th quarter? Did you ever think Kobe's 81 point game would be passed? Y’all talk to me. This one has me a bit upset.