{"id":655924,"date":"2026-03-13T09:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655924\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:43:35","slug":"gordon-hayward-says-bam-adebayos-83-point-game-bad-for-nba-makes-it-feel-not-legit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/655924\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon Hayward says Bam Adebayo\u2019s 83-point game bad for NBA: \u2018Makes it feel not legit\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat poses for a photo holding up a sign after scoring 83 points in a game, Image 2 shows Gordon Hayward of the Boston Celtics plays with a basketball during the first quarter<\/p>\n

Gordon Hayward was not a fan of Bam Adebayo\u2019s 83-point game on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Hayward, who spent 14 seasons in the NBA with the Jazz, Celtics, Hornets, and Thunder, said on ESPN\u2019s \u201cUnsportsmanlike\u201d radio show that Adebayo\u2019s performance is not great for the league, and it feels \u201cnot legit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Bam is one of the best two-way players in the league at his position, but he\u2019s not a scorer, right?\u201d Hayward quipped<\/a> Thursday. \u201cSo for him to break [Kobe Bryant\u2019s] record, I 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.<\/p>\n

\"Gordon<\/p>\n

Gordon Hayward plays after being injured during the first quarter of the Celtics\u2019 Game 3 win over the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on Sept. 19, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for him to shoot 43 free throws and 22 threes, when that\u2019s not what he does, it almost feels like\u2026 and again, the Wizards too. With all these teams tanking, it kind of makes it feel not legit, I guess, is what I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many have been critical of the method by which Adebayo achieved his massive scoring total, as the Heat intentionally fouled late in the game to stop the play clock so the big man had the chance to overcome Bryant\u2019s 81-point performance on Jan. 22, 2006.<\/p>\n

Play-by-play analyst Doris Burke<\/a> said she was \u201cuncomfortable\u201d with the fouling and the fact Adebayo racked up an NBA-record 43 free throws, with 21 of his points in the fourth quarter coming from the charity stripe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas I slightly uncomfortable with the six-minute mark and down with some of the intentional fouling and free throws? A little bit,\u201d Burke said Wednesday night on ESPN.<\/p>\n

\"Bam<\/p>\n

Bam Adebayo poses for a photo holding up a sign after scoring 83 points in the Heat\u2019s blowout win over the
Wizards on March 12, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I am taking nothing away from Bam Adebayo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakers head coach JJ Redick added to the negative discourse, saying that the game\u2019s final moments were a \u201cdifferent type of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bam<\/p>\n

Bam Adebayo (right) celebrates with teammates after he scored 83 points, the second-highest single game total in NBA history. AP<\/p>\n

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra dismissed the blowback<\/a>, however, saying that he has zero regrets over what went down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize to absolutely no one. Period,\u201d he told reporters ahead of the Heat\u2019s 112-105 win against the Bucks on Thursday. \u201cAnd going into the game, it\u2019s a Tuesday night game against a team where they\u2019re not playing for anything, where their organization is trying to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\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. And he sure was.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat poses for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[2648,7,46,13027,130,1418,17234,144,1661,300,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":["post-655924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-heat","tag-bam","tag-basketball","tag-celtics","tag-doris-burke","tag-espn","tag-free-throws","tag-gordon-hayward","tag-heat","tag-jj-redick","tag-lakers","tag-miami","tag-miami-heat","tag-miamiheat","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116221228183157522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}