Jason Burgos
While many around the NBA have showered Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo with praise for his historic 83-point game on Tuesday night, some prominent individuals around the sport were not fans of how he moved into the No. 2 spot for most points scored in a single NBA game.
After Kobe Bryant had the performance of a lifetime when he scored 81 in a game against the Toronto Raptors two decades ago, most basketball fans and experts assumed that number would never be surpassed. Well, this week, Adebayo turned the NBA world on its head when he somehow posted 83 points in a win over the Washington Wizards.
The performance that now has him behind only Wilt Chamberlain for the most points scored in a game has been a national story in the hours since. As diehard and casual fans marvel at what Adebayo did on Tuesday. However, there have also been many in and around the game who are dismissing the Heat star’s historic night. One of them is ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon.
Tim MacMahon mocks Heat & ‘Lizards’ in rant about Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game
In a wild rant about Adebayo’s 83-point night, MacMahon called the game a “hilarious exhibition of hideous basketball” and jokingly dubbed the Washington Wizards the Washington Generals. The Generals are the infamous team that lost to the Globetrotters every night for decades.
While he understands the three-time All-Star is the face of the Heat and they wanted him to chase history, he just hated how they went about helping him. “You’re up 20-something and intentionally fouling to extend the game with minutes left? He’s jacking up threes while being triple-teamed. It honestly was just awful, hideous, disgusting basketball” MacMahon said.
Furthermore, MacMahon took a shot at the integrity of the organization for working so hard to help Adebayo pass Bryant on the all-time single-game scoring list.
“I never want to hear about heat culture, professionalism, and all that crap ever again, because that was the most blatant stat chasing I’ve ever seen,” MacMahon said. “It’s the worst stat chasing since Ricky Davis tried to get a rebound on the wrong basket to get a triple-double… It was embarrassing for the ‘Lizards,’ egregious for the Heat, but hey, you got your 83.”
Bam Adebayo had a whopping 36 free throws made on 43 attempts. In comparison, Bryant was 18 of 20 from the foul line and hit eight more shots from the field.
