"The way it went down was highly questionable. Nothing romantic or real about it. We thought flopping and foul-baiting made for unethical hoops, but those are but basketball misdemeanors; Adebayo's big night was felonious. Tuesday's game featured intentional clock-stopping, game-extending fouls by the Heat. And it was ripe with free-throw-abetting fouls by the Washington Wizards, an actively tanking team."
"Bryant's necessary, organic 81 this was not. The Lakers trailed that game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006 at halftime and actually needed Kobe's 55 second-half points to pull away for the win. The Heat were up by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter with Adebayo continuing to play pop-a-shot in the historic farce."
Bam Adebayo scored 83 points Tuesday night against the Washington Wizards, surpassing Kobe Bryant's 81-point game from 2006 for the second-highest single-game total in NBA history. However, the performance is widely viewed as illegitimate. Adebayo shot 36 of 43 free throws, benefiting from intentional fouls by the tanking Wizards and clock-stopping tactics by the Heat. Unlike Bryant's 81 points, which came during a necessary comeback win, Adebayo continued scoring in the fourth quarter while the Heat led by 28 points. The game ended 150-129, with observers and Lakers fans questioning whether the record felt earned, comparing the achievement unfavorably to Bryant's organic, competitive performance.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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