Bam Adebayo averaged just 7.5 field-goal attempts per game during his one collegiate season at Kentucky, and former head coach John Calipari joked he was clearly holding the Miami Heat star back during that 2016-17 campaign.

Heat president Pat Riley took aim at Bam Adebayo’s critics on Saturday night, calling it “unjustified” and declared the reaction to his 83-point game “not fair.

Pat Riley isn't standing for any criticism of Bam Adebayo's historic 83-point game. The Miami Heat president ripped the "bulls--t" criticism of Adebayo's scoring outburst, saying that those criticizing Adebayo are only doing so for online attention.

The historic 83 point game of Bam Adebayo may have happened almost a week ago, but nearly everyone in the NBA media has had to have their own say on the matter. And that includes NBA on NBC lead analyst Reggie Miller.

Bam Adebayo's record-breaking 83-point game on March 10, 2026, was a deeply personal tribute to his late grandmother, who would have turned 83 that day. He aimed to score exactly her age as a birthday gift,

"Bam, now, you know your grandmother and your aunt's birthday is Tuesday on the 10th," his mother, Marilyn Blount, told Adebayo before that game, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. "You know you better score and win because she'll come back and haunt you."