More than 20 years after Kobe Bryant delivered a career-defining 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors, Bam Adebayo went two points better on Tuesday night in a crushing win over the Washington Wizards.
Adebayo stunned the NBA world by going off for 83 points in the Miami Heat‘s 150-129 home win on Tuesday — and while there is general acceptance that scoring 83 points in an NBA is a magnificent feat, opinion is sharply divided on the validity of doing so when 36 of those points came from the foul line.
MORE: Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game turned into a farce, just like Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game
Charlie Villanueva, who played for the Raptors when Bryant had his 81-point game in January 2006, said there is a “difference” in how Adebayo achieved his 83 points, and that there should be an “asterisk” next to Adebayo’s performance.
“When we played Kobe, Toronto played the Lakers, it was a close game the whole way,” Villanueva said on the “To the Baha” podcast. “They needed Kobe’s 81 points. In Bam’s case, (the Heat were) up by 30, 25 (points). (The Wizards) were fouling so he could get there to beat the record. It’s not the same.”
Charlie Villanueva says Kobe’s 81-point game isn’t Bam Adebayo’s 83:
“There’s a difference, Yes 83 is 83 that’s fu*king hard to do. Regardless what level you’re playing. Now, here is the difference. When we played Kobe, Toronto played the Lakers it was a close game the whole… https://t.co/FaxuaHqjEu pic.twitter.com/yN961uuzZb
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 11, 2026
Villanueva isn’t wrong that the Lakers needed Bryant to go off the way he did on Jan. 22, 2006. The Raptors were up by 14 points at halftime before Bryant spearheaded a mighty comeback on the way to an 18-point win.
At Kaseya Center on Tuesday, the Wizards — one of the NBA’s worst teams — never led. The Heat led by as many as 28 points.
Even still, Villanueva has gone some way toward delegitimizing Adebayo’s record-setting accomplishment, in which he broke long-standing records for free throws attempted (43) and made (36) in a game, all while he made seven 3-pointers and knocked down 20 shots.
It goes to show how the early-2000s generation of players isn’t moved by the basketball being played in the 2020s so far.
