Bam Adebayo Claps Back at Critics for Calling Historic 83-Point Game 'Unethical' in New Video

Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo doesn't care about the criticisms that have cropped up in the aftermath of his 83-point game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday's win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Adebayo clapped back at the idea that there was anything "unethical" about his historic performance.

Adebayo started by putting some of the blame on Wizards head coach Brian Keefe's defensive game plan before shifting to the critics who said he should have come out late in the fourth quarter and questioned the volume of free-throw attempts he took.

"That's the thing that's crazy when they talk about the unethical part of basketball. I'm like, 'I had 70 with nine minutes to go,'" Adebayo said. "Who would just be like, 'You know, coach? Just take me out.' Yeah, right. … A minute? All right. Nine? Yeah, I'm going for it. You can't be mad at that. ... They're gonna 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."

Almost immediately after Adebayo put the finishing touches on his masterpiece, there was blowback from fans and some NBA analysts.

Most of the criticisms fell on the bizarre end of the spectrum, particularly those concerned with how this was somehow disrespectful to Kobe Bryant and his 81-point game in 2006.

Some of the criticisms did have validity to them, including the one that Adebayo raised about how the Wizards were defending him and why they didn't adjust until the fourth quarter.

The 43 free-throw attempts for Adebayo set a new NBA record, surpassing the previous mark of 39 by Dwight Howard, who was often subjected to the "hack-a-Shaq" approach due to how ineffective he was at the line in his career.

Adebayo wasn't foul-hunting so much as the Wizards were just making contact with him that left the officials with no choice but to blow the whistle.

There were certainly tactics employed by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to help Adebayo run up his point total, including challenging an offensive foul late in the fourth quarter with his team up by 25 and having Dru Smith commit an intentional foul with less than two minutes left to maximize their offensive possessions.

If you want to blame Spoelstra for that approach, it's fair to do so. But Adebayo wasn't the one who kept himself in the game to run his point total up.

Also, whenever you are doing something that only Wilt Chamberlain has previously, you have done something really special and shouldn't have to apologize for it.