'Not a Real Basketball Game,' Wizards HC Rips Heat's Tactics in Bam Adebayo's 83-Point Game
Washington Wizards coach Brian Keefe was apparently unhappy with Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra's willingness to help Bam Adebayo work toward passing Kobe Bryant for the second-highest scoring game in NBA history against the visiting Wizards on Tuesday night.
"In the fourth quarter, it turned into not a real basketball game," Keefe told reporters after the Wizards' 150-129 loss on Tuesday night.
Keefe continued: "They obviously kept him in the game, and there was a lot of foul calls, 16 free throws in the fourth quarter... He still got some free throws 40 feet from the rim. Can't explain some of those calls, but that's all I've got to say on that."
The Heat spent the fourth quarter drawing fouls and funneling the ball toward Adebayo, who finished the game with 83 points to pass Bryant's personal best of 81.
Adebayo finished the game having shot 20-for-43 from the field and 7-for-22 from deep.
He also set records for both free throw attempts (43) and free throws made (36) in the win.
Adebayo said after the game he appreciated Spoelstra "for drawing up plays for me" in the historic win.
Spoelstra didn't only keep Adebayo in until the late minutes of the blowout, but he was challenging calls with the Heat up by more than 20 points in order to get him more free throws.
The Heat coach said after the victory that he started planning to keep Adebayo around when he surpassed his previous career-high of 41 points to post a 50-ball.
"Once he got to 50, then we're thinking, alright, maybe he can get to 60," Spoelstra said. "Then when he got to 60, just kept on going. Might as well go for 70. And then I didn't even dare even think about taking him out, at that point.
"I wanted him to have a moment... I just didn't stop until he got Kobe's."
The single-game NBA scoring record has been held since 1962 by Wilt Chamberlain, who put up 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a win over the New York Knicks.
The second highest-scoring game was recorded by Bryant during a win by the Los Angeles Lakers over the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006.
Adebayo also set a single-game record for the Heat, where LeBron James had set the previous franchise mark with 61 points against the Charlotte Hornets on March 3, 2014.
