Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance has always been viewed as a record that will likely never be broken. For a while, the same was thought of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game, a feat that was achieved in January 2006. However, with the NBA shifting toward faster-paced, higher-scoring games, Bryant’s mark has looked more attainable.
A few players have gotten close: Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and Luka Dončić have all scored at least 70, with Dončić notching a group-best 73 in January 2024. If someone was to get 80, or potentially break Bryant’s record, the expectation was that it would be one of these players – or at least one of the NBA’s top scorers.
Instead, it was Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, who recorded the second highest scoring game in NBA history on March 10. The three-time All-Star – whose previous career-high was just 41 points – went for 83 points in the Heat’s 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.
Let’s go quarter-by-quarter to highlight how it happened.
First Quarter: 31 Points (10-16 FG, 5-8 3PT, 6-7 FT)
The first quarter of Adebayo’s performance was arguably the most remarkable. He was red-hot from the jump, scoring Miami’s first seven points and 31 of the team’s 40 in the frame.
Adebayo got it done from every part of the floor. Despite attempting just 14.9 3-pointers per season over his first six years in the league, he splashed five of his first eight attempts from deep against the Wizards, including a heat check pull-up from the wing after bringing the ball up the court late in the quarter.
Already, excitement was building at the Kaseya Center. Adebayo’s 31-point opening frame was tied for his seventh highest scoring game to date and only his fourth 30-point game of the season. With 36 minutes of game time left, he had a lot of room to build upon his hot start.
Second Quarter: 12 Points (3-8 FG, 0-3 3PT, 6-7 FT)
Following his usual rotations, Erik Spoelstra sat Adebayo for the first five minutes of the second quarter. He returned with 7:02 to play and remained on the floor until halftime.
After a few minutes, Adebayo got going again, faking a 3-point attempt before driving inside and spinning away from Wizards center Alex Sarr to get an easy bucket to go at the rim. He went back to work on Sarr later in the quarter, again spinning to his right and getting a shot to go off the glass.
An and-one with under a minute to go in the frame put Adebayo at 41 for the first half, sinking the free throw as a cacophony of “MVP” chants roared from the crowd. He surpassed his career-high in just 19 minutes before heading into the locker room, scoring 43 on 13-for-24 shooting (5-for-11 3PT) and going 12-for-14 from the stripe.
Third Quarter: 19 Points (4-11 FG, 1-5 3PT, 10-13 FT)
The start of the third was a sign that Adebayo wasn’t yet ready to slow down. He blew by Sarr for a driving slam just over a minute into the quarter, then followed it up a few minutes later by drilling an open three from the corner. With just over five minutes to go in the frame, he had hit 50 points as the Heat led by more than 20 points.
From here is where things get more interesting. With such a substantial lead – and no real reason to keep your starters out on the floor – most teams typically choose to bench their stars to keep them fresh for the games ahead.
Instead, Spoelstra and the Heat made an effort to keep Adebayo going. When the Wizards realized this, they started making more of a concerted effort to keep the ball out of Adebayo’s hands. He started forcing the issue, though, and hit the 60-point mark at the free-throw line with under a minute to play in the third.
Just before the end of the quarter, Adebayo got ahead of a turnover and threw down a tomahawk slam to give him 62 on the night, breaking a different record in the process: Surpassing LeBron James’ career-high 61-point performance from March 2014, Adebayo became the Heat’s single-game scoring leader.
Fourth Quarter: 21 Points (3-8 FG, 1-6 3PT, 14-16 FT)
With one quarter to go and the game firmly out of reach for the Wizards, the Heat opted to keep Adebayo out there and give him a chance to keep going. His 62 points were already tied for the 15th highest scoring game in league history, but it wouldn’t take much more to reach some seriously rare air.
Adebayo earned his first two points of the fourth at the free-throw line, a signal of what was to come for the final 12 minutes. Of his final 21 points, 14 would come at the stripe. Washington was relentless in its effort to keep Adebayo from getting the ball, often sending two or three defenders at him. They racked up deflections, but they had no choice but to foul him whenever he got the ball cleanly and started pushing toward the basket.
He scored his 74th point with just over five minutes remaining, surpassing Dončić’s 73 for the fourth-most in a single game and the most since Bryant’s 81. Now, all that was left was to chase down the Black Mamba and leave his mark on history.
Points 77 through 83 were all scored via free throws. The Heat put the ball in Adebayo’s hands on virtually every position, sometimes committing turnovers in the process as they tried to get him closer to the record. For his last trip to the line, Adebayo got the ball near halfcourt and drove to the basket, running into two defenders before firing up a shot. He missed, but the whistle blew, and he sank both free throws.
Finally, Spoelstra called a timeout and gave his star a curtain call with 1:08 to play. Adebayo, smiling with his whole face, linked up with each one of his teammates at midcourt before heading to the sideline and hugging his coach. Perhaps he could’ve gone for more – 90 wasn’t that far out of reach – but in either case, he stands alone as No. 2 on the all-time leaderboard.
How JJ Redick, Victor Wembanyama, and other players & coaches across the league reacted to Bam Adebayo's 83-point performance 😅 pic.twitter.com/XBms5iXbKs
— Underdog (@Underdog) March 11, 2026
Call Your Shot on the NBA’s Next Record-Setting Performance
With Adebayo’s name cemented in the record books, some fans are already predicting who might be the next player to chase down the record and hunt for Chamberlain’s insurmountable century mark.
If you think you know who’ll get it done, put your money where your mouth is and join Bovada. As an offshore industry-leader, Bovada offers a robust prop betting market for every NBA game, and you can even bet on more record-breaking results, like a team scoring over 187 points or the total exceeding 371 points.
BetOnline, another giant in the space, also allows you to bet on alternate player props. The over/under may be drawn at 30.5 points, but with alternate lines, you can back individual players to go for 40 or 50-plus on a given night.
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