Bam Adebayo delivered one of the greatest scoring performances in NBA history Tuesday night, pouring in 83 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 150–129 win over the Washington Wizards.
The 28-year-old center recorded the second-highest single-game point total ever in the National Basketball Association, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s legendary 100-point performance in 1962. Adebayo surpassed Kobe Bryant, who scored 81 points in 2006, to move into second place on the all-time list.
Adebayo set the tone early with 31 points in the first quarter alone and finished the night shooting 20-for-43 from the field, 7-for-22 from three-point range, and 36-for-43 from the free-throw line while adding nine rebounds in 42 minutes.
“Man, I wish I could relive it twice,” Adebayo said during the postgame broadcast. “I credit my family, my teammates and this crowd. They kept feeding me the ball. I couldn’t do it without them. I appreciate coach Erik Spoelstra for drawing up plays for me. To be able to do it at home makes it even sweeter.”
The performance shattered several franchise records. Adebayo broke the Heat’s previous single-game scoring mark of 61 points set by LeBron James in 2014 and also set a new team record for points in a quarter. His previous career high had been 41 points against the Brooklyn Nets in 2021.
Spoelstra said the team realized early something special was unfolding.
“Once he got to 50, we started thinking maybe he could reach 60,” Spoelstra said. “Then it just kept going. We figured we might as well push for 70. I didn’t even think about taking him out. I wanted him to have that moment in front of the home fans.”
Adebayo also set NBA single-game records for free throws made and free-throw attempts. The previous mark for made free throws was 28, shared by Chamberlain and Adrian Dantley, while Dwight Howard previously held the attempts record with 39.
Despite the historic night, Miami needed the scoring surge as the team was missing several key players due to injury, including Tyler Herro, Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins. The Heat also played without Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jović.
Miami led 40–29 after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 19 points in the second before taking a 76–62 lead into halftime. Adebayo already had 43 points at the break, another Heat record.
He added 19 points in the third quarter, reaching 62 points with a dunk late in the period to break James’ franchise record and give Miami a 113–97 lead.
With the outcome already decided in the fourth, the Heat continued feeding Adebayo the ball as he chased history. His final two points came from the free-throw line with 1:16 remaining, pushing him past Bryant for second on the NBA’s all-time single-game scoring list.
“It’s Wilt, me, then Kobe—which sounds crazy,” Adebayo said.
Meanwhile, Alex Sarr led Washington with 28 points, while Wizards star Trae Young sat out due to right knee injury management. The loss marked Washington’s ninth straight defeat.
For Miami, the win was its sixth in a row, matching the team’s longest winning streak of the season.
