Making Sense of Bam’s 83 & Ranking the Greatest Scoring Performances of the Modern Era
- Andrew Perez
- Mar 12
- 10 min read
For most of the night, I was locked in on Spurs vs. Celtics (my prediction for this year’s Finals matchup, btw). Once I heard Bam had 31 in the first quarter, I had to tune in. He’s not even a scorer like that, I thought to myself. He caught fire early, Miami kept feeding him, and the tanking Wizards defense kept running out of answers. Bam finished with 83 points in Miami’s 150-129 win over Washington, scoring 31 in the first quarter, 43 by halftime, and 62 through three. Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, and Norm Powell all sat out due to injury.
Toward the end of the game, the Heat started doing everything they could to push Bam’s total even higher. It began to feel less like a basketball game and more like a coordinated effort to get him past Kobe’s 81. The intentional fouling to steal extra possessions, the free-throw parade, and even a coach’s challenge while up 30 all felt little too unethical for my palate.
This is what makes Bam’s game so hard to make sense of. 83 is 83. Second all time is second all time. Yet, how Bam got all the way up to 83 makes it harder for me to evaluate this game next to the other great scoring explosions of the modern era. Some of these games came in losses. Some came in overtime. Some came against tanking teams. Others felt like pure shot-making brilliance. Bam’s 83 obviously belongs in the conversation as one of the greatest scoring performances of the modern era, but it also demands context.
On Dec. 20, 2005, about a month before Kobe’s 81-point game, the Black Mamba had scored 62 through three quarters against Dallas while the Mavericks had only 61 as a team. Brian Shaw later remembered Phil Jackson asking if Kobe wanted to stay in and go for more, and Kobe’s response was, “Nah, I’ll get it another time.” Kobe later said he probably would’ve scored 80 if he had played the fourth. He sat anyway. Kobe could have chased history, but he never needed to force it in a game that was already over. He respected the game too much to do that.
Bam’s insane night sent me down the rabbit hole of the best scoring performances of the modern era. It was a blast going back and rewatching these games. With Dame and Luka, two of my all-time favorite players, and Kobe of course, I especially enjoyed revisiting some of these nights. Here they are, ranked from last to first.
7. Devin Booker — 70 points vs. Boston, March 24, 2017
Booker’s 70 ranks seventh on this list, and that says more about the list than it does about the game. He was only 20 years old and averaging 22.1 points per game in his second season, which is absurd context on its own. Phoenix came into Boston at 22-51, eliminated from anything meaningful, and running on fumes. Booker still gave them 70 points on 21-for-40 shooting, 4-for-11 from three, and 24-for-26 from the line in a 130-120 loss to a Celtics team that was 47-26. Against that defense, at that age, the shot-making was no joke. Booker said afterward, “This doesn’t happen very often, especially against a really good defensive team like the Boston Celtics.”
The reason I have it here is the context around the finish. Phoenix lost. The number became the mission. The Suns extended the game, kept feeding him, and turned the closing minutes into a clear chase for 70. Booker called it “a night I’m going to remember the rest of my life,” which makes perfect sense. It’s still one of the great scoring performances of the modern era. The difference is that compared to the games above it, this one felt a little more centered on the milestone by the end than on the game itself.
6. Joel Embiid — 70 points vs. San Antonio, January 22, 2024
Embiid’s 70 was a show of overwhelming force. He came into the night averaging 36.1 points per game as the reigning MVP, had scored at least 30 in 21 straight games, and had Philadelphia rolling. The Sixers won 133-123 to improve to 29-13 and extend their winning streak to six. Embiid put up 70 points, 18 (!) rebounds, and 5 assists on 24-for-41 shooting and 21-for-23 from the line, and he had 59 through three quarters.
I have this one sixth because of the game environment, not because the performance was lacking. San Antonio came into that game at 8-35, and while the Wemby angle made it interesting, the game never had the same urgency or resistance as the best entries on this list. Embiid said, “The only thing I told my teammates was, ‘Please don’t force it. Let’s just play basketball.’” He also said he was “actually mad” because he missed easy shots he’d been making all season. That tells you how locked in he was. This was one of the great scoring nights we’ve seen from a big man. The games above it just carried a little more weight, tension, or difficulty in context.
5. Damian Lillard — 71 points vs. Houston, February 26, 2023
Dame’s 71 might be the cleanest scoring burst on this whole list. He was averaging 32.3 points per game and carrying a Portland team fighting to stay alive in the West. He went for 71 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists on 22-for-38 shooting, 13-for-22 from three, and 14-for-14 from the line. He did it all in just 39 minutes in a 131-114 win over Houston. There was no overtime and no blatant stat-padding. He just went off.
Lillard’s own quote might be the best summary: “I enjoy those moments in the game when I’m just going after people, when I’m in attack mode.” Chauncey Billups called it “a masterpiece” and “a piece of art.” I have this game fifth only because the opponent and overall stakes weren’t quite as strong as the performances above it. From a pure shot-making standpoint, though, this was probably the nastiest scoring outburst on this list.
Check out his ridiculous 55 point explosion vs. the Nuggets in the playoffs to see an even better performance than this one:
4. Bam Adebayo — 83 points vs. Washington, March 10, 2026
Bam lands fourth because the number is too massive to ignore. Miami was shorthanded, had won five straight coming in, and needed creation with key scorers out. Bam, who entered the night averaging 20.0 points per game, blew past every expectation anyone had for him. He finished with 83 points, the second-highest total in league history, while breaking the NBA single-game records for free throws made and attempted. Spoelstra said the performance “snuck up on us,” and once it did, Miami clearly decided to see how far it could go.
The first three quarters were incredible. The fourth quarter is what keeps this from going higher. The Heat were up big and the game had already been decided. Once the blatant stat-padding started, the whole thing drifted away from being a real basektball game. The high level of competiton is really what makes these scoring explosions so special (honestly, I like Dame's 71 more but 83 is just too many points to ignore). That’s my issue with it. None of that erases the accomplishment. Bam still had to get to 62 through three before the record chase even became possible. There’s also another layer that makes the night stand out. Bam’s relationship with A’ja Wilson has become one of the coolest stories in basketball, and A’ja’s own résumé makes that relevant here. She’s one of the faces of the WNBA, a multiple-time MVP, and she has a 53-point game that is tied for the highest single-game scoring mark in league history. Now Bam has 83 on the NBA side, so the two of them hold the highest single-game scoring totals among active players in their respective leagues. The fact that this was also the first Bam game A’ja had gone to in person adds another layer to the whole night.
Bam deserves credit for what the game says about his growth. He was first known as a defensive anchor, screener, connector, and culture guy. Now he has an 83-point game on his résumé. There are no asterisks in the history books. Nobody can take that away from him.
3. Donovan Mitchell — 71 points vs. Chicago, January 2, 2023
Mitchell’s 71 felt like a movie. Cleveland came back from 21 down, won 145-134 in overtime, and moved to 24-14 in Mitchell’s first season with the Cavs. He was averaging around 28 a night already, but this was the game that made the whole season feel different. He finished with 71 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists, basically a near triple-double, on 22-for-34 shooting and 20-for-25 from the line. Cleveland was also missing Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, which matters because Mitchell had to shoulder even more creation than usual.
The overtime is the obvious qualifier. Everything else about it was massive. Mitchell had to save Cleveland, not just light up the scoreboard. His intentional miss, rebound, and finish to force overtime is one of the wildest plays in any game on this list. J.B. Bickerstaff called it “one of the greatest performances in the history of the NBA,” and Mitchell said it was “truly humbling” to be in that company. He also joked, “I think I had a game like that once playing NBA2K.”
This was one of the most dramatic scoring games of the modern era, and I do think it belongs ahead of Bam because the game itself demanded it.
2. Luka Dončić — 73 points vs. Atlanta, January 26, 2024
Luka’s 73 is the most complete scoring game on this list outside of Kobe’s 81. Dallas had lost three straight, Kyrie Irving was out, and Luka came in averaging 33.6 points per game. The Mavericks needed all of it because this was a close game until the end. Dallas beat Atlanta 148-143, and Luka put up 73 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists on 25-for-33 shooting, 8-for-13 from three, and 15-for-16 from the line. That kind of volume with that kind of efficiency shouldn’t even be possible.
Jason Kidd gave the perfect quote afterward: “He is the game plan.” That’s Luka in one sentence. Everybody in the building knew what was coming, and it still didn’t matter. There was no overtime here. No awkward chase. No cheap feeling to the finish. Dallas needed him to score that much, and he did it in rhythm, in the flow of the game, all while smirking, grinning, and talking his shit. A few months later, Luka led Dallas to the 2024 NBA Finals, where the Mavericks beat Minnesota in five to win the West before eventually losing to Boston in five. It hits differently now, knowing Dallas would move on from a player who had already shown he could reach this level at such a young age.
1. Kobe Bryant — 81 points vs. Toronto, January 22, 2006
Kobe’s performance is still the standard. His game had the best mix of volume, difficulty, pressure, and meaning. The Lakers were 21-19 entering the night. This was the second season after Shaq, the first year of Phil Jackson’s return, and the middle of a season where Kobe was averaging 35.4 points per game, the highest mark in the league and the highest by any player since Michael Jordan’s 37.1 in 1986-87. Mitch Kupchak said the Lakers were “clearly in the rebuild” and that they needed everything Kobe could give them. This wasn’t empty production on a team going nowhere. The Lakers needed him to be superhuman just to stay afloat in the grueling Western Conference.
Toronto led 63-49 at halftime and pushed the margin to 18 in the third. Kobe had 26 at the break. Then everything changed. He scored 55 in the second half, including 27 in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth, and carried the Lakers to a 122-104 win. That’s the difference between Kobe and almost everyone else on this list. He wasn’t chasing a number in a game that had already been decided. He was dragging his team back into it and burying Toronto at the same time. Phil Jackson said, “When you have to win a game, it’s great to have that weapon,” and that gets right to the heart of it. This was still about winning, even as the total climbed into video game territory. What makes it even crazier is that Kobe did this in a season where the NBA average was around 97 points per game. Today, that number is up to 115.3. He was also First Team All-Defense that year. How was this guy not the MVP?
The Dallas game from a month earlier is what pushes this one over the top for me. Kobe had already shown he could flirt with absurd numbers without turning a blowout into a circus. Then, against Toronto, he got exactly the kind of game that justified staying on the gas. The larger stretch around those years matters too. In 2003, he dropped 55 in his final matchup against Michael Jordan and scored 42 in the first half of that game. He also authored the NBA’s longest streak of 40-point games with nine straight in 2003. A few years later, in 2007, he gave us four straight 50-point games: 65, 50, 60, and 50. That's part of why the 81 still carries the weight it does. It didn't come out of nowhere. It came from a player who had been circling scoring immortality for years. There is a reason one of Kobe’s statues outside Crypto is from this game. 81 is still the standard.
Final Thoughts
Bam still deserves a lot of credit. Even his airness, Michael Jordan reached out to congratulate him, and Bam (longtime Kobe fan himself) said Kobe probably would’ve told him to “do it again.” I agree. Kobe was always about empowering the next generation and challenging them to be great. Bam gave Miami one of the defining moments of its season, and he gave himself a game that will live on forever. At the same time, I also think if Dame or Joel had stat-padded to the level Bam did, they quite possibly could’ve gotten to 80 too. That doesn’t erase Bam’s 83. It just adds more context to how I look at it. However people feel about the ending, 83 is now part of NBA history.
Do I think 83 will ever be topped? Maybe. The NBA is the most skilled it’s ever been. Luka, Ant, Shai, Jokic, Wemby, KD, Steph, Kyrie, Dame, Maxey, and Donovan all probably have a chance, especially with teams tanking more than ever. Even a guy like Cam Thomas off the bench. Maybe somebody unlikely again, the way Bam did. That’s why we love this game. If you put the work in, and the stars align, anyone can have an all-time night.
To hear more about Bam’s incredible 83-point game, along with our discussion on the top 5 players in the NBA, Tatum’s return to the Celtics, and the Lakers’ LeBron problem, tune into this week’s Basketball Hungry episode: https://www.basketballhungry.com/podcast/episode/7d3b4fd3/bams-83-top-5-nba-players-tatums-return-and-the-la-bron-problem
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