It would be nice if such a moment could be savored. When something extraordinary happens, we once relished a period of astonishment, to sit on the proverbial porch of greatness and admire it like a sunset. Awe can be peaceful that way.
Eventually, the skepticism would arrive. The criticism. It always has, and part of the construction of mythical figures and hallowed records is their weathering of antagonism. They only mean as much as they can withstand.
Now it seems, through these aged eyes, the deconstruction begins before we get that moment. The debates and hot takes and derision show up like garbage trucks at dawn.
The forensic analysis of how the thing happened and whether it should have happened commences before what happened can be processed, enjoyed.
Bam Adebayo scored 83 points. In one game. In front of his legendary girlfriend. He took 43 shots and 43 free throws. Give most NBA players the same green light, and they wouldn’t get 83. Simply getting up that many requires impressive strength and endurance.
Bam Adebayo took down Kobe Bryant’s sacred 81-point record that’s no longer a record. To best Bean at anything necessitates adulation.
Bam Adebayo embodies the inspiration of resilience, the warmth of a respected teammate, the soul of a throwback hooper.
All of those ring true. They made what he did special. We should’ve spent the day at the water cooler discussing the career he has accumulated and the reputation he garnered.
It was inevitable we’d eventually discuss the ills of what we witnessed. Adebayo becoming a player he’s never been and seizing the reins of the NBA machine forced this reckoning. He is perhaps the worthiest beacon for shining a historic light on the state of the game.
This moment smells like irony because Adebayo exposed that which he doesn’t espouse.
Since we’re here — prematurely, due to our addiction to being a perennially aggrieved NBA community, sports community, nation — it can’t be denied how Adebayo’s 83-point performance aimed a spotlight on a few of the NBA’s tarnishing issues.
One: That the Washington Wizards could be so in the throes of season sabotage that they were helpless against the NBA’s 414th all-time leading scorer. Adebayo, who entered the game averaging 18.9 points this season and 16.0 for his career, became a tank to tankers and highlighted the losing mentality players say intentionally losing promotes.
Two: Adebayo jacked 22 3s, making just seven. The last several were heat checks over multiple defenders, though his 3-pointer grew lukewarm after the opening quarter. A career 32 percent shooter from behind the arc taking 22 from deep bolsters the indictment levied against this era. Especially when he goes 2 for his last 14.
Three: Adebayo crossed the finish line of history by spamming the glitch in NBA rules, ramming his 6-foot-9, 255-pound frame into defenders and getting rewarded with free throws because they weren’t statuesque enough for a Mannequin Challenge.
Four: The final minutes of an NBA game again devolved into a Rube Goldberg ending, capable of enjoyment only by people who read the fine print for fun.
Let’s be clear about this: Adebayo represents what’s right with the game. All he’s done throughout his nine professional years is get better and be a great representative of his family, of his franchise, of this country. He honors the game with a proper effort and admirable perspective. He deserved to be rejoiced.
His sweat is honest. His heart pure. His rewards earned.
After Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, he hugged his girlfriend, three-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who tied the WNBA’s single-game record for points in 2023 with 53. (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
If any NBA players warrant a moment without interrogation, Adebayo belongs among them.
Yet, it’s fair to dissect his day on the dais. Preferably later than the night of his legendary feat, we must acknowledge that those types of monumental games aren’t supposed to go like that. Feel like that. And that taking Kobe’s place comes off as a bastardization of the record books.
Sure, many historic feats devolved into sideshows. Precedence, however, doesn’t inherently produce appreciation. We reserve the right to compare and contrast, to prefer some and side-eye others.
It certainly didn’t help that Adebayo’s dismantling of the Wizards increasingly lacked aesthetic pleasure. In some of the epic moments we’ve witnessed, some of the irreverence gets excused for the theater of brilliance. When Klay Thompson went for 37 in a quarter, that game turned into a streetball scene as the Warriors force-fed him. But he was so on fire, and it was so surreal, that the display took priority over decorum.
In Tuesday’s first quarter, Adebayo made you sit up in your seat as he worked the Wizards like a new hire. He not only had his jumper going but also his slashing and face-up game. It’s the package he no doubt believed he had but willingly shelved in service of efficiency and victory.
In the third quarter, when the buzz escaped the Kaseya Center and he trended toward LeBron James’ Miami Heat record for single-game scoring (61), Adebayo did what anybody in his shoes would do. He went for it.
He cooled off from deep, losing his wild efficiency against a semi-awakened Wizards defense and under the weight of history. But Adebayo muscled through even that into rare territory. First, 62 points. Then 70. Then 79.
It felt as if pulling the plug was the respectable thing to do. The game had been decided, with Miami leading by more than 20 over the final minutes. He owned the gaudy night his zone warranted.
But Miami’s fouling in the final minutes while ahead by an insurmountable margin almost guaranteed to detract from Adebayo’s performance. In this age absent of water coolers and governed by social media.
But Adebayo, in the process of maximizing his lone moment as an all-time scorer, underlined why he stands out as special. His cosplaying for a night, after years feasting as a premier defender and versatile All-Star, was just him getting in on the action. He had his one night to be part of the hustle, which is profitable in part because players like him provide the dirty work.
He didn’t bend the rules to tax defense and provide welfare for scorers. He didn’t event the analytics movement that lured everyone behind the arc. He certainly hasn’t made his name off foul-baiting, gamesmanship and turnstile defense.
But for one night, he partook of the fruit of the era’s vine. He got drunk once off a style of play on which many others build their resumes.
Even with the issues, we can still marvel at the league’s best because the shots still have to be made. It still requires endurance and skill and magic. Adebayo proved forever he has some of that, too.
That’s why he deserved an extended basking in the glory. He earned the respect of our stopping and saluting him. Would’ve been nice.