Heat’s Adebayo in ‘awe’ of himself, pushes back at criticism, says blame Keefe
The names, suddenly and shockingly, forever will be inexorably linked.
“It’s crazy when I look at people and be like, ‘Wilt, me, Kobe,’” the Heat captain said from a Kaseya Center podium late Thursday night.
And even Adebayo remains in awe of joining that Most-Points-Ever-In-A-Game club, with his 83-point eruption on Tuesday placing him, in NBA annals, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point epic in 1961 and ahead of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point master class in 2006.
“It sounds insane,” Adebayo said. “But it actually happened.”
After scoring a more mortal 21 points in Thursday’s 112-105 win against Milwaukee – the Heat’s seventh victory in a row – Adebayo was circumspect, appreciative and reflective about making history.
“It’s just one of those things where as the days go on, it starts to sink in more and more,” he said two nights after delivering one of the most shocking performances in NBA history.
“For the last 48 hours, I’m kind of in awe of myself because when you tell somebody what’s your career high and you’re like ‘83.’ Somebody’s going to be like, ‘what!?’ And this isn’t like the YMCA.
“This is the highest level of basketball where you go in the game and you get 83. It’s still a pinch-me moment. Like Kobe said, you got to be in shape. You’ve got to have great endurance and be in shape to really catch that. I understand it now because the next game is the one you got to worry about.”
Adebayo pushed back at critics who said his milestone was tarnished by his volume of free throws (an NBA record 36 in 43 attempts); by the fact he made less than half his shots from the field (20 for 43); by the Heat’s decision to get him the ball repeatedly in the fourth quarter (just as Chamberlain’s and Bryant’s teammates did) and by the team’s decision to intentionally foul the Wizards to stop the clock (twice) and then intentionally miss a free throw to try to get Adebayo another shot.
“If you get that close to chasing greatness, that’s the point of chasing it — so you can surpass it,” he said. “What do you think I’m going to do? Try to break it. I’m pretty sure if I had 81 and Kobe was on his way, he was not being like, ‘you know what? I’m going to check myself out. With nine minutes left and I got 70.’ Be serious.”
He said criticism instead should be directed at Wizards coach Brian Keefe for doing little to try to stop him for three quarters, before sending double- and triple-teams at him in the fourth.
“First of all, y’all are blaming me,” Adebayo said. “You should be blaming their head coach. Get that first. I was not the one letting me go 1-on-1 the whole game until I had 70 and then you started to send a double.
“At that point, I got 70 with nine minutes left to go in the game. You think I’m not going for it? And that’s the thing that’s crazy when they talk about the unethical part of basketball. I’m like, if I have 70 with nine minutes to go, who would just be like, ‘Coach, just take me out.’ Yeah, right. Anybody in my shoes with nine minutes left? Okay. A minute? All right.
“Nine [minutes]? Yeah, I’m going for it. You can’t be mad at that. If you are mad, I don’t care because a lot of people, they’re upset because if they did play, they never had a chance to get that close to chasing greatness. And then if you get that close to chasing greatness, that’s the point of chasing it so you can surpass it.
“And some of the people have never played basketball. So like, if you’ve been in the backyard and you and a couple of your homies have been playing 21 and you got 19, you’re not going to get an easy look off. And they’re going to talk about the free throws. It’s not like I shoot 15 free throws a game. It’s not like I average 10 free throws a game. You can watch the film. I was legitimately getting fouled every time. So I went to the free-throw line.”
Adebayo also received strong support from coach Erik Spoelstra, who said his All-Star center deserved the moment. “I apologize to absolutely no one,” Spoelstra said before Thursday’s game.
Beyond backlash from fans of Bryant, the criticism of Adebayo and the Heat has come mostly from sports media types and a few former players, including Gordon Hayward, Robert Horry (a former teammate of Bryant) and Nick Young.
“I understand it’s a two-way street,” Adebayo said, before resting up for Saturday’s important home game against Orlando (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun).
“Some people are going to praise you because they’re going to be like, 83 is 83, no matter how you get it. And there’s other people that’s going to say, well, ‘It wasn’t the way Kobe did it.’ You start throwing that around and I’m like, ‘listen, I’m a Kobe fan. I got close to his record.’”
Adebayo called the past three days an “emotional rollercoaster.”
He struggled offensively early Thursday but came alive late, closing with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 35 minutes. He closed 6 for 20 from the field, 0 for 5 on threes, and 9 for 13 from the line.
“I mean, you’re surrounded with eyes because everybody wants to see if you can do it again, which is crazy because I don’t think anybody will ever do it again,” he said of the anticipation for Thursday’s game. “But you just got to flip the page.
“It’s kind of hard to do that when there’s so much emotion going on. You see people just yelling 83 at you. And you kind of just live in the moment. And then usually when you get in the game, that’s when you kind of forget where you are and kind of lose yourself throughout the game.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat listed guards Tyler Herro (left quad soreness) and Norman Powell (right groin strain) as questionable for Saturday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10).
Heat guard Dru Smith (right hip contusion) is probable to play.
The Heat will remain without Nikola Jovic (low back injury management), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Andrew Wiggins (left big toe sesamoiditis).
Here are 83 nuggets on Adebayo’s 83-point game.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 9:57 AM.
