{"id":537894,"date":"2026-03-13T14:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537894\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:03:10","slug":"erik-spoelstra-press-conference-on-bam-adebayo-83-points-critics-shai-gilgeous-alexander-breaks-wilt-chamberlain-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537894\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik Spoelstra press conference on Bam Adebayo 83 points critics, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaks Wilt Chamberlain record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erik Spoelstra has no plans to apologise to anybody after he left Bam Adebayo in the 150-129 win over the Wizards, where the Heat star scored a history-making 83 points<\/a> to surpass legend Kobe Bryant. <\/p>\n

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The 83-point performance \u2014 which is now the No. 2 in NBA history for a single game \u2014 has created a surprising amount of blowback, and Spoelstra made sure that it was known that he had regrets over it. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologise to absolutely no one. Period,\u201d he told reporters ahead of the Heat\u2019s game against the Bucks in Miami. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd going into the game, it\u2019s a Tuesday night game against a team where they\u2019re not playing for anything, where their organisation is trying to lose. We\u2019ve already lost a game, you know, in that kind of situation. We have players [who] are sitting out. And I spoke to Bam about what I want, as our best player and team captain, for him to be locked in and ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he sure was.\u201d <\/p>\n

Adebayo trails only Wilt Chamberlain for most points in an NBA game with his 83-point night this week, where he shot 20-of-43 and made 36 free throws.<\/p>\n

He also went 7-for-22 from 3-point range. <\/p>\n

It garnered pushback from some around the league, with Wizards coach Brian Keefe not seeming to be a fan of Spoelstra\u2019s late-game tactics. Lakers head coach JJ Redick described the latter moments of the game as \u201ca different type of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo called the Heat\u2019s tactics on Tuesday a \u201ccomplete disgrace,\u201d and broadcaster Doris Burke said she was \u201cslightly uncomfortable with the six-minute mark and down with some of the intentional fouling and free throws? A little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gordon Hayward, meanwhile, said the achievement felt \u201cnot legit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s great for the league. I think it kind of highlights how they\u2019re already struggling. It kind of feels like a pickup game when you\u2019re watching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Spoelstra said he\u2019s \u201cnot losing any sleep\u201d over it and doubled down on what happened. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would do it 10 times out of 10 again for Bam,\u201d Spoelstra said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 New York Post<\/a><\/p>\n

Giddey passes Pippen in Triple Doubles | 01:08<\/p>\n

SUPERSTAR\u2019S \u2018WILD\u2019 PIECE OF NBA HISTORY<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander broke the NBA record for consecutive 20-point games by delivering his 127th in a row in Oklahoma City\u2019s 104-102 home win over the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points on sizzling 13-of-18 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-5 from three-point range, and 7-of-8 from the free throw line while adding nine assists, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.<\/p>\n

The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player eclipsed the 63-year-old mark of 126 set by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain when he sank a 20-foot jump shot from the top of the key with 7:04 remaining in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

That gave the 27-year-old Canadian guard 21 points for the game and lifted the reigning NBA champion Thunder level with Boston at 69-69.<\/p>\n

The game was decided by Chet Holmgren\u2019s two free throws with 0.8 of a second remaining after being fouled on a rebound, which gave the Thunder the final margin.<\/p>\n

Boston had a final chance but Payton Pritchard missed a shot at the buzzer. The Thunder improved to an NBA-best 52-15 with their seventh consecutive victory, dropping the Celtics to 43-23.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s streak began on November 1, 2024, and since then he has averaged 35.5 points and shot 53.5 percent.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder players pour water on Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. (AP Photo\/Nate Billings)Source: AP<\/p>\n

In the streak, Gilgeous-Alexander has delivered all five of his career 50-point games, 18 40-point performances and 85 30-point games.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 17 points in the first half, putting himself on the brink of NBA history as the second half began.<\/p>\n

He missed a three-point attempt but was later fouled on a drive to the basket and made two free throws to pull within one point of the milestone, setting the stage for his breakthrough basket.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander was unhappy with only 10 points in the first quarter. \u201cI was having a terrible game to that point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like how I started. I started sluggish. I wanted to focus on getting the car back on the road and make sure we walked out of here with a W.\u201d <\/p>\n

In other games, Victor Wembanyama was sidelined by a sore right ankle for the San Antonio Spurs, which spoiled a big-man matchup with Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic, who had a triple double with 31 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists in the Nuggets\u2019 136-131 victory.<\/p>\n

The Spurs had their five-game win streak snapped despite 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists by Stephon Castle, who missed a tying three-point attempt with 19.8 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

Jamal Murray, who scored 39 points, made four late free throws to seal Denver\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic scored 51 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and passed off nine assists in a 142-130 home victory over Chicago.<\/p>\n

Australian Josh Giddey stuffed the stats sheet in the loss, scoring 27 points to go with 15 assists and eight rebounds, although he also had six turnovers.<\/p>\n

Harden STUNS with full-court Alley-Oop! | 00:26<\/p>\n

At Indiana, Phoenix\u2019s Devin Booker scored 43 points and Jalen Green added 36 to spark the Suns\u2019 123-108 victory over the Pacers, whose losing streak hit 11 games.<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference leader Detroit (47-18) got a game-high 19 points from Duncan Robinson plus 14 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes by Jalen Duren in a 131-109 home rout of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Atlanta stretched its win streak to eight games with a 108-97 home victory over Brooklyn. Jalen Johnson sparked the Hawks with 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.<\/p>\n

Swedish guard Pelle Larsson scored 28 points and the Miami Heat won their seventh consecutive game, beating visiting Milwaukee 112-105.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Magic boosted their win streak to six games with a 136-131 overtime home triumph over Washington. Jalen Suggs finished with 28 points and Tristan da Silva had 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erik Spoelstra has no plans to apologise to anybody after he left Bam Adebayo in the 150-129 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-537894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}