Bam Adebayo scores historic 83 points to pass Kobe Bryant’s single-game mark
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points and broke the league in points made and made free throws in the Miami Heat’s 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. This is the second highest scoring game ever for a player, behind Wilt Chamberlain’s famous 100-point game.
“It was definitely a surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
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Adebayo started the first quarter with 31 points. It increased to 43 in the first half and to 62 at the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, the doubles, triples, and milestones continued to fall despite what once seemed like a quadruple team of the Wizards defense sending him to the foul line.
He completed 20 of 43 points from the field, 36 of 43 points from the foul line, and 7 points from 22 three-point shots.
After the game, he was seen hugging his mother, Marilyn Blount, and in tears as he left the field after the game.
“Welp it won’t be a career high anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend A’ja Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to chase after.”
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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best points this season was Nikola Jokic’s 56 for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. Last player to score 62 points in three quarters: Kobe Bryant, one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, scored exactly that many points in three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on December 20, 2005.
He also managed to surpass Bryant in single-game scores. Bryant’s career-best was 81; this was the second-best scoring game in the NBA for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the first quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter and tying the record for points in the first half before the start of the second quarter.
He finished the first half with 43 points; This was a team record for any half and was two points better than his previous career high of 41 points against Brooklyn on January 23, 2021.
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Adebayo had a season-high 32 points on Tuesday. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat’s first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s best second half in at least the last 30 seasons; It dates back to the beginning of the digital play-by-play era, which started in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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