MIAMI \u2014\u00a0It’s Wilt, then Bam.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Former Wildcat Bam Adebayo scored 83 points for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 defeat of the Washington Wizards
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His 83 points are second all-time in a single game\u00a0
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Adebayo played one season at the University of Kentucky in 2016-17 under former head coach John Calipari
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Miami drafted him 14th overall in 2017<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Adebayo played one season at the University of Kentucky in 2016-17 under former head coach John Calipari. He was the only Wildcat to start all 38 games that season and averaged 13 points, eight rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.\u00a0He was named to the All-Southeastern Conference Second Team by both the league\u2019s coaches and the Associated Press and also made the coaches’ All-SEC Freshman Team.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats finished 34-6 in 2016-17, including 16-2 in the SEC, and advanced to the Elite Eight. The Heat would draft Adebayo 14th overall in the 2017 NBA draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn absolutely surreal night,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. \u201cObviously, we\u2019ve been blessed to have been part of a lot of big moments in this arena. This one, it just happened. Moments happen and I\u2019m grateful that we\u2019re all able to be a part of it and witness it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chamberlain’s record of 100 points has stood since 1962. Kobe Bryant \u2014 one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes \u2014 was No. 2 on the list with 81. Adebayo never thought he’d be in that club.<\/p>\n
Then came a night he’ll never forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilt, me, then Kobe,\u201d Adebayo said. \u201cIt sounds crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adebayo\u2019s final numbers: 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.<\/p>\n
He was in tears as he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game. Emotions were kept in check, until then.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it was just remaining calm, remaining locked in and understanding that I can go for something special,\u201d Adebayo said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was going to be 83. But to have this moment is surreal, because like I said, man, to be able to do it at home, in front of my mom, in front of my people, in front of the home fans, this is a mark in history that will forever be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adebayo’s career high, before Monday, was 41.<\/p>\n
That was passed by halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at the stat sheet. It was pretty crazy: 40 shots, 40 free throws, 20 3s, that takes a lot of stamina, man,” Houston star and Adebayo’s USA Basketball teammate Kevin Durant said. \u201cIt takes a lot of energy to go out there and put those shots up and also make them, set a record, surpass Kobe as the second highest-scoring player in the history of the game. I mean, damn. Congrats to him. Huge, huge accomplishment, something we’re going to be talking about forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter and never stopped rolling. He 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.<\/p>\n
Adebayo got to the line 16 times in the fourth, and the game had some comical moments. The Heat made clear they kept wanting Adebayo to get the ball and get to the line, even in a blowout. The Wizards tried to foul others \u2014 but couldn’t stop the scoring onslaught.<\/p>\n
When Spoelstra finally declared Adebayo’s night over, he was waiting to greet the center with a big hug. Teammates did the same, as did some of the Wizards after the final buzzer. Adebayo made his way over to Heat managing general partner Micky Arison for congratulations, before eventually getting to the locker room.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a surreal moment,\u201d Adebayo said, \u201cbeing in the company with somebody I idolized growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014\u00a0It’s Wilt, then Bam. What You Need To Know Former Wildcat Bam Adebayo scored 83 points for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[41445,2722,2724,7740,569,7736,7737,355,3,7738,7739,99,452,73377],"class_list":["post-517051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-associated-press","tag-bowling-green","tag-kentucky","tag-lexington","tag-louisville","tag-nba","tag-news","tag-northern-kentucky","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topic-latest-local-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}