How the hell did Bam Adebayo score 83 points?

We rewatched every bucket (and foul drawn) to find out.

Good morning. Absurdity lives everywhere you care to look. Let's basketball.

Bam Adebayo scored 83 points on Tuesday night. The Heat didn't play a baseball-style double-header or anything. The game didn't go to quadruple overtime. It was a normal game – or as normal as a game in which Bam Adebayo scores 83 points can be – and Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in it.

But how?

The disbelief around the mark has little to do with Bam's quality as a player. It has to do with the style of play that Bam represents – which is not particularly high-scoring and doesn't lean on volume shooting. Dan Devine describes the situation well: everyone in league history with a 70-point game on their ledger is a top-50 all-time scorer on a per-game basis. Bam is in the 200s on that list. So for him to now have the second highest scoring game in NBA history is weird.

And before we get into the details, it's worth noting that almost every super high-scoring game has been discredited in one way or another, as Kelly Dwyer reminds us. There are no saints above the 70-point mark! It's really important to keep that in mind ... because the end of this game gets weird.

Let's dig in. Let's figure out how Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in a game.

(You can also watch the highlights all collected in one package, but where's the fun in that?)

FIRST QUARTER

11:43 – Bam opens the game with a classic Bam short jumper in the lane. 2 points.

10:34 – Bam drills a three on the left wing. 5 points.

9:09 – Bam attacks a close-out and hits a bizarre running half-hook floater. He might be hot. 7 points.

7:26 – Bam gets a bunny in secondary transition, Alex Sarr is called for goaltending. 9 points.

6:35 – Bam attacks the paint and draws a bump foul on Sarr. He hits both free throws. 11 points.

6:07 – Davion Mitchell drives and kicks to Bam in the right corner for a clean, open three. He might be hot. 14 points.

5:20 – Bam attacks a close-out and dunks hard on Sarr. 16 points.

4:58 – Bam spots up in the right corner and drills another three. It's important to note that to this point, Sarr is also putting up numbers (13 points already). Bam has 19.

4:25 – Mitchell attacks the paint again and the kick-out makes its way around to Bam for a three from the left side. He's hot hot. 22 points.

3:35 – Bam attacks a Tristan Vukcevic close-out and gets an and-1 lay-up. 25 points.

2:17 – After Bam misses three straight attempts (maybe he's not hot hot), he takes the ball from Justin Champagnie on the perimeter and gets fouled on the other end. He hits both. 27 points.

2:01 – Bam pulls up above the break in transition and drills a three over Vukcevic. 30 points. Holy smokes.

0:06 – Shot clock's off, Bam's trying to post up Vukcevic and the young Wizards just hugs him. Bam splits a pair.

First quarter results: 31 points in 12 minutes on 10/16 shooting from the floor (5/8 from three) and 6/7 from the line. Sarr has two fouls; Vukcevic has three. Miami leads 40-29.

SECOND QUARTER

Bam re-enters the game at the 7:02 mark. Miami leads by 14.

5:53 – Bam sneaks around Sarr to grab an offensive rebound and Sarr hammers him on the putback attempt. Bam splits a pair. 32 points.

5:22 – Bam attacks a close-out and rolls into a beautiful finger roll. 34 points.

2:27 – After missing four straight shots, Bam establishes inside position and gets fouled by Sharife Cooper. He hits both free throws. 36 points.

1:57 – Bam attacks off the dribble and hits a beautiful spin move to get the edge on Sarr. 38 points.

1:11 – Bam faces up on Anthony Gill in the post and drives toward the baseline. Gill bodies him out of bounds. Bam hits both. 40 points.

0:42 – Mitchell drive and kick to Bam, who attacks the paint and gets an and-1 with a help foul by Will Riley. 43 points. Heat play-by-play announcer Eric Reid senses history in the air.

Second quarter results: Bam drops another 12 on 3/8 shooting (0/3 from three) and 6/7 from the line. Miami wins the quarter by three and heads into halftime up 76-62. Bam is sitting on 43 points, which is already a new career high. The Heat franchise record is 61 (LeBron in '14).

THIRD QUARTER

10:51 – Bam attacks a close-out and dunks easily past Sarr, who is looking demoralized at this point. 45 points. He's not stopping.

7:06 – Bam drills a corner three in transition. 48 points.

5:31 – Bam (tell me if you've heard this one) attacks a close-out and draws a foul on Bilal Coulibaly in the lane. He hits both. 50 points.

5:03 – Bam leaks out after Tre Johnson (who Bam is guarding) missing a three and gets the open court dunk and great hit-ahead from Myron Gardner. 52 points. Angry Brian Keefe timeout.

4:49 – Coulibaly gets hit with a tech, Bam hits the free throw. 53 points.

4:37 – Bam posts up Vukcevic, who is in the third circle of hell at this point in the game, and draws the shooting foul. He hits both. 55 points.

3:59 – Bam draws a double on the baseline and gets foul by (guess who?) Vukcevic on a stepthrough. Vukcevic is up to five fouls and mercifully gets subbed out. Bam hits both. 57 points.

2:55 – Bam works Champagnie in the post and draws the foul. He splits them. 58 points.

1:17 – Gill bumps Bam hard as Bam comes across to establish to post position. The Wizards are started to get pissed. Bam splits them. 59 points.

0:47 – Bam attacks a close-out, Champagnie fouls him on the drive. The Wizards have no bigs left to even try to guard Adebayo straight-up. Arguably they never did. Bam splits the free throws. 60 points.

0:22 – Bam commits a live ball turnover but Washington gives it right back and the ball gets to Bam for an open court dunk. New Heat franchise record.

Third quarter results: 19 points in 12 minutes on 4/11 shooting (1/5 from three) and 10/13 from the line. Bam has cooled off from the floor (he's only hit one of his last eight threes) but the Wizards simply cannot guard him in the lane without fouling him, and so he and the Heat continue to attack that weakness. Miami leads 113-97. Will Bam start the fourth quarter or will Erik Spoelstra be contented with getting Bam the franchise record, a huge new personal record and see if the Heat bench can keep the margin high?

Nope.

FOURTH QUARTER

11:47 – On the first possession of the fourth, Bam attacks off the dribble and gets fouled going up by Jaden Hardy. He hits both. 64 points.

10:43 – Bam drills a corner three off a sweet Keshad Johnson pindown. 67 points. History is brewing.

9:05 – Coulibaly gambles for a steal but doesn't get it, so Bam drives the rim and gets an and-1 on Bub Carrington. 70 points.

6:43 – Bam drives to the rim in transition, Riley fouls him going up. He splits the pair. 71 points. At the end of this possession, the Heat are up 28 points and Bam has played about 36 minutes. Spoelstra has at least thought about pulling Adebayo.

5:46 – The Wizards send a double as soon as Bam puts the ball on the floor from the right wing, but Coulibaly fouls him and the Heat are in the bonus. He splits the pair. 72 points.

5:21 – Coulibaly is essentially grappling with Bam to prevent him from using a Johnson screen on the right wing. Bam hits both free throws. 74 points.

3:26 – The crowd's at a fever pitch. No one has left their seats. In a blowout, in Miami. Bam posts up Coulibaly and sheds him easily. Dru Smith gets a good entry pass in, and Bam gets the and-1 on a helping Riley. 77 points. Eric Reid is edging toward Eric Collins.

2:56 – Alright, time to get real. Bam is only in the game to hit Kobe's 81 now. The game's well out of reach, he has the personal and franchise records, he's exceeded the recent Embiid, Booker and Doncic totals. Bam misses a three from the top of the key, but Miami gets the rebound and Bam drives the lane. Hardy and Coulibaly both step in to take a charge, and the refs give it to them. BUT SPOELSTRA CHALLENGES THE CALL. As my man Kofie points out, Spo is notoriously stingy with his challenges. And he challenged an offensive foul up 25 with less than four minutes left to help his dude Bam nab a post-Wilt record. Incredible. (The challenge fails. Bam remains in the game.)

This is now the defense the Wizards are playing on Bam. They are sick of this s--t. You may be surprised to learn his missed this shot.

And this one after an offensive rebound for the Heat.

The Wizards are so focused on stopping Bam from getting 80 or heavens forbid 82 that the other Heatians are running wild on the offensive glass.

2:05 – Gardner gets that rebound and hits Bam driving the lane. Gill just wraps him up. Keefe challenges it. He has officially crashed out. The challenge fails. Free throws for Bam. He hits both. 79 points.

1:44 – After a Hardy miss, Smith tries to force the ball to a double-teamed Bam in transition and turns it over.

1:40 – THE HEAT INTENTIONALLY FOUL HARDY TO GET THE BALL BACK. THEY ARE WINNING BY 27.

1:37 – The Wizards double Bam in the backcourt, but he somehow draws a foul in the frontcourt. He hits both. 81 points.

1:35 – Another intentional foul by Miami. I don't feel good any more.

Then the Wizards do this to get the ball out of Bam's hands.

And once he moves the ball, the Wizards intentionally foul Johnson before Bam can get the ball back. WHAT A GAMBIT. This is no longer basketball.

This becomes a turnover.

The Heat keep intentionally fouling and trying to get the ball to Bam, who is being double and triple teamed at every turn.

He finally gets the ball on the move, the crowd is going nuts and ... he draws a foul on Gill. Keefe already rage-burned his challenge, so Bam heads back to the line. He hits both. 83 points.

The Heat commit another intentional foul ... but this time it's to get Bam out of the game. The final tally: 83 points in 42 minutes on 20/43 shooting (7/22 from three) and 36/43 from the line (!!!). Miami wins by 21. Bam is joined at the podium by his partner A'ja Wilson, who shares the WNBA single-game scoring record with 53.

Incredible performance. Hilarious finish. The NBA can be weird and wonderful.

I'm out of time, so we'll cover the rest of Wednesday's action and have links in Thursday's newsletter.

Schedule

All times Eastern. Highlight games in bold.

Cavaliers at Magic, 7:30, ESPN
Raptors at Pelicans, 8
Knicks at Jazz, 9
Rockets at Nuggets, 10, ESPN
Hornets at Kings, 10
Timberwolves at Clippers, 10:30

Be excellent to each other.