told the Miami Herald<\/a> regarding the nitpicking over Adebayo\u2019s accomplishment. \u201cIt really is. Anybody who is negative on it, anybody who was cynical about it, anybody who talked about it the way they talked about it in a negative way, they\u2019re trying to either get views, hits, or they\u2019re podcasters and that\u2019s their job.<\/p>\n\u201cThere are critics today that are just so unjustified in what was going on with the tactics, and we were fouled, and they were fouled. The same thing happened with Wilt Chamberlain when he got 100 back in the day. But I don\u2019t buy any of that. They took an iconic, absolute incredible performance, and they tried to dismiss it. And that\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bam](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/764ba349aaf7c3879fbb18b05845ccb5.jpeg\"\/)
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Bam Adebayo poses for a photo holding up a sign after scoring 83 points against the Washington Wizards. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Adebayo\u2019s been hammered for his lack of efficiency and high free-throw rate compared to other high scoring performances in NBA history.<\/p>\n
He ended the night with 20-for-43 on field goals (46.5 percent), 7-for-22 from 3-point range (31.8 percent) and an NBA-record 36 free throws made on 43 attempts (83.7 percent).<\/p>\n
Much of the blame should be on the Wizards for their lack of defense, constant fouling and overall tanking, which Heat coach Erik Spoelstra took exception to while defending Adebayo earlier this week, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI apologize to absolutely no one,\u201d he insisted. \u201cPeriod.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cIt\u2019s a Tuesday night game against a team where they\u2019re not playing for anything, the organization is trying to lose. We\u2019ve already lost a game in that kind of situation. We have players that are sitting out.\u201d he said, referencing Tyler Herro and Norman Powell among those not being available for the game due to injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I spoke to Bam. I want, as our best player and team captain, for him to be locked in. And he sure was. \u2026 He approached that game appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bam](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bdb6327ed720a9870cffb58f67b769fd.jpeg\"\/)
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Bam Adebayo made an NBA record 36 free throws against the Wizards. Getty Images<\/p>\n
And revealed this weekend was another layer to Adebayo\u2019s 83-point outburst.<\/p>\n
The Herald also reported that Adebayo\u2019s grandmother died five days before the game at age 83.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Bam, now, you know your grandmother and your aunt\u2019s birthday is Tuesday on the 10th,\u201d Adebayo\u2019s mother, Marilyn Blount \u2014 who was in attendance, as she typically is \u2014 told her son. \u201cYou know you better score and win because she\u2019ll come back and haunt you.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, Blount recounted a call she received from her brother following the 83-point game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that my mother died five years ago at the age of 83,\u201d she said, per The Herald.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bam Adebayo scored 83 points during a game for the Heat. It was only a matter of time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[1179,7,568,144,304,1536,295,189,3881,6,558,2483,84924,1176,492,468,5437],"class_list":["post-660328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-heat","tag-bam-adebayo","tag-basketball","tag-getty-images","tag-heat","tag-knicks","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-miami","tag-miami-heat","tag-miamiheat","tag-nba","tag-norman-powell","tag-pat-riley","tag-point-performance","tag-the-heat","tag-tyler-herro","tag-washington-wizards","tag-wilt-chamberlain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116236140984602131","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660328","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=660328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/96559808d821fb8b1337f4ecd8773491.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Bam](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6f17f1b8ca0ca249fedc513da609a299.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n