Five NBA Things I may or may not have Liked: Bam, Kobestans, SGA, Jokic, Kneecapped

Bam, Bam

As I’m sure you’re aware, Bam Adebayo just had the game of his life. On 43 field goal and free throw attempts, Adebayo set the modern single-game NBA record with 83 points, and the all-time record for made free throws at 36. Sure, the Wizards are awful, but these are still NBA players playing in the most talent-rich era in history. Many awful teams have not put their best foot forward, and only once before had someone dropped 83 points.

Some have derided how shamelessly the Heat and Adebayo pursued this feat, but I’m here to tell you that’s just the cost of scoring an insane amount of points. Here are some quotes from Wilt Chamberlain, detailed in Gary M. Pomerantz’s book, Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era:

“It wouldn’t even have been close to possible without them. They wanted me to get it as much as I did.”

“They had to do more than just give up open shots. They had to avoid fouls and pass me the ball in traffic.”

Here’s what the opposition coach, Eddie Donovan, had to say about the whole ordeal:

“The game was a farce. They would foul us and we would foul them.”

There is no ethical hoops path to scoring over 80 points, and before you say Kobe Bryant, just know, he took 13 of the Lakers’ 17 fourth-quarter field goals and all 13 of their free throws. He had one of their two assists and one of their two turnovers. This is a rough estimate, but that’s like an 80% usage rate in a fourth quarter where he scored a game high 28 points.

Basketball is entertainment, and watching someone score an insane amount of points is fun as hell. I’m glad the Heat went all in for Bam to etch his name in the history books. And Erik Spoelstra is right to “apologize to absolutely no one.”

Kobestans

Here’s a novel idea: when a guy scores 83 points in a game, the second most all-time, and the closest anyone has come to matching Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point effort, you celebrate it for the feat that it is. What you don’t do is make it about the guy who was in second place for a record that wasn’t even broken, but some people just have to make everything about Kobe.

I don’t know if I’ll ever see the day, but I’d like it if Kobe Bryant’s name was mentioned an appropriate amount, considering he isn’t even one of the 20 greatest players ever. Bam Adebayo had a night to remember, and we have a person writing that he should have stopped at 81 so he wouldn’t pass Kobe. Are you fucking shitting me? First, no. Second, Never. And third, this is sport. If you see a record in sight, you don’t run to it; you run past it. That’s how this whole thing works. Did anyone ask why Kobe didn’t stop at 69 points so he wouldn’t pass Jordan’s single-game high?

The NBA’s love affair with Kobe Bryant is one of the most annoying and tiresome developments of my lifetime. Get over it. We shouldn’t be denigrating players’ accomplishments just to artificially inflate the legacy of one. It’s abusive and fucked up. Bam Adebayo scored more points than Kobe in a single game. It ain’t that deep.

Far and SGAway

Wilt Chamberlain is the Paul Bunyan of the NBA. His records are so outlandish that they almost don’t feel real. He’s more of a legend, a tall tale, than a real figure. Score 100 points in a game? Not going to happen. Average 50 points a game for a season. Ain’t no way. But once in a while, one of his records gets surpassed, and makes the myth feel a bit more mortal.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has just set the NBA record for most consecutive games with 20 points, surpassing Wilt. His 127 consecutive 20-plus point games started on November 1, 2024, and there are no signs that it will end anytime soon. How long he can extend the record will likely come down to injury or ejection, as Wilt’s 126-game run was the result of a fourth-minute ejection.

The consistency with which Gilgeous-Alexander plays is simply staggering. He hardly ever has an inefficient shooting night, and his ability to keep turnovers in check defies belief. Over this 127-game run, he has had a True Shooting percentage under 50% or committed five or more turnovers only 11 times. For as exceptional as his highs are, the greatness of SGA is his incredible floor. The man just doesn’t have bad games.

Jokic

The Nuggets have been struggling since Nikola Jokic returned from injury. In 19 games, they’re 9-10, but back-to-back victories over the Rockets and Spurs, paired with the return of Aaron Gordon, seem to have stabilized the situation. However, something that I’ve consistently heard over this less-than-stellar run from the Nuggets is how poorly Jokic has played.

Let me be clear, Jokic hasn’t been at his absolute best, but I do hate when a player’s greatness is used to nitpick their continued greatness. Since returning from a knee sprain, Jokic has averaged 27.1 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game on a 62.6% True Shooting percentage. While that’s not quite as good as the 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 11.0 assists per game on a 71.3% True shooting percentage he produced over his first 32 games, it is still insane production.

Put another way, if Jokic’s last 19 games were his season averages, he would rank ninth in scoring, first in rebounding, and third in assists. Using Box Plus/Minus (BPM) as a catch-all for his production, we can see just how absurd a down stretch from Jokic is.

Over his first 32 games, he produced a BPM of 16.5. That put him on pace to smash the all-time single-season record of 13.7, which he set in 2021-22. During this terrible 19-game stretch, he has a BPM of 12.1, which would be right behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s full-season mark of 12.2. As it currently stands, Jokic’s full-season BPM of 14.84 is the all-time record.

I know great players become prisoners of their own success, but sometimes we need to take a step back and realize just how good a bad night at the office is for these all-time greats. Jokic went from breaking basketball to producing a top-ten all-time BPM. And if it weren’t for SGA’s own absurdity, he’d be the runaway MVP favorite.

Kneecapped

Stephen Curry hasn’t played since January 30th, and I’m starting to worry we might not see him again this season. For the past six weeks, he has been in a perpetual state of being reevaluated in ten days. Now, I know what you’re thinking, he’ll be back in ten days, but that’s what they said ten days ago, and ten days before that, and ten days before that ten days before.

At some point, age catches up to everyone, and Curry isn’t immune to that. The Warriors diagnosed him with runner’s knee, an overuse injury that is often triggered by running, stair climbing, and squatting, which sounds like basketball.

The fact that it hasn’t gotten better could indicate that something worse is afoot. Since I doubt the underlying cause is muscular imbalance or structural issues, the next common causes are trauma, surgery, and arthritis. Whatever the issue is, the Warriors and Curry need to be cautious, which might mean ending his season early.

While it would suck for Curry’s season to end so soon, it’s probably the best course of action. The Warriors’ season was already kneecapped when Jimmy Butler tore his ACL, and Curry’s extended absence has only delved their season deeper. Hopefully, this is the last ten-day reevaluation period for Curry, but if it’s not, their season is running out of daylight.

For any inquiries about work, discussion, and the like, you can email me at nevin.l.brown@gmail.com.