Who is Bam Adebayo? The man who dared and unseated Kobe Bryant himself

Fans filed into Miami's Kaseya Center unaware that, after 48 minutes of play, they were about to witness one of the greatest feats in basketball history. Neither did the man responsible for that epic moment, the one who has worn No. 13 for the Miami Heat since 2017, realize what was coming. On Tuesday, Bam Adebayo etched his name into NBA history, putting up his best performance of his professional career.

With the 83 points he scored against the Washington Wizards, the Heat center, 28, achieved the second best scoring record in an NBA game, surpassing the one achieved by one of the great legends of the best basketball league in the world, Kobe Bryant, who in 2006 scored 81 points with the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors.

In this ranking, he is surpassed only by the absolute scoring record set by another NBA legend, Wilt Chamberlain, who in 1962 scored 100 points against the New York Knicks while wearing the jersey of the Philadelphia Warriors, the forerunner of the Golden State Warriors. As a point of interest, Chamberlain also wore No. 13, the same number Adebayo wears for the Heat.

"To be next to Wilt and Kobe means a lot. It sounds crazy," Adebayo said after putting up the best performance of his career. "I thank God, my family and my mom, because they help me keep going; this is a moment for them."

Here's how Adebayo entered the NBA books

Adebayo scored from virtually every angle on the Kaseya Center court: from the free throw, from the two-point range and even from the perimeter. Attempt after attempt, score after score until he reached the impressive figure of 83 points and entered the history of the NBA.

The Heat center drew numerous fouls from the Washington defenders, which helped boost his scoring total. In all, Adebayo, colloquially known as "Bam Bam" after a character from "The Flintstones," had 43 attempts from the free-throw line, an NBA record, and made 36 of them (83.7%).

From the two-point line, an area where he is usually most effective, he scored on 20 of his 43 attempts (46.5% effective).

Even more surprising was his willingness to shoot from the perimeter. Adebayo attempted 22 three-pointers, making seven (31.8%), an uncharacteristic performance given his career statistics.

At the end of the first quarter, "Bam Bam" already had 31 points and, at the end of the second, 43. By the end of the third quarter, the Heat center had already scored 62 points. In the last twelve minutes, he scored the remaining 21 points for a total of 83.