Danny Green tips hat off to Bam Adebayo for NBA scoring milestone

MANILA, Philippines -- No matter how we got it, 83 is 83. 

Former NBA player Danny Green said that while there are criticisms on Bam Adebayo’s record-setting scoring night earlier this week, it does not take away the fact that what he did was impressive. 

Adebayo, on Wednesday, moved to the second-most points scored in a single game against the Washington Wizards. 

The Miami Heat center finished with 83 points – moving past Kobe Bryant’s 81 points in a game – in their 150-129 victory over the Wizards and is now trailing just Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points for the most points scored in one contest. 

Green, who held a meet-and-greet event with fans on Friday evening at the NBA Store in SM Megamall, stressed that what Adebayo did was “impressive.” 

“I mean, 83 is 83, no matter how you do it, or who you do it against. That is not easy to do in an NBA game,” he told Philstar.com. 

“And he did it. He broke that record. And he deserves all the flowers that he gets,” he added. 

The 28-year-old Adebayo shot 20-of-43 from the field, including 7-of-22 from deep. 

He also made 36 of his 43 free throw attempts in the game. 

Some fans said that Adebayo’s record-setting performance was “unethical” given the number of free throws he attempted. 

“Yeah, they were fouling him. What do you want him to do?” Green said. 

Adebayo, who was double – and triple-teamed at times down the stretch, also only exited the game at the 1:08 mark of the fourth quarter despite the huge lead of the Heat.

Green played against Adebayo in the 2020 NBA Finals. In that six-game championship series, Green’s Lakers won the title inside the NBA bubble. 

Bryant set his 81 points in 2006, while Chamberlain tallied his 100 in 1962.