Bam Adebayo scored 83 points earlier this week and stunned the sports world. The Heat center’s unexpected, historic scoring explosion against the Wizards is one of the biggest sports stories of the year; he now ranks second on the NBA’s all-time single-game scoring list behind only Wilt Chamberlain.
However, his remarkable accomplishment has not been universally celebrated as such. Adebayo’s performance has been criticized by fans and media alike. Those detractors believe his 83-point outing is worth less than, say, Kobe Bryant’s 81 points because Adebayo scored 36 points from the free throw line. Furthermore his team went to great lengths late in the fourth quarter to help push him past Bryant, feeding him the ball at any cost and intentionally fouling Washington in order to prolong the game.
