Adebayo establishes Heat milestone with 31 points in the opening quarter, 43 in the first half.
MIAMI — Bam Adebayo achieved the highest-scoring game of his NBA career on Tuesday night.
He accomplished this feat within just the first half.
Adebayo netted 31 points in the opening quarter against the Washington Wizards, setting a new Miami Heat record for points in any quarter and equaling the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter commenced.
He concluded the half with 43 points, establishing a team record for any half and surpassing his previous career high for a full game, which was 41, achieved on January 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
His shooting stats for the first half included 13 for 24 from the field, 12 for 14 from the free-throw line, and 5 for 11 from beyond the arc. He is the first player to record at least 12 field goals, 12 free throws, and five 3-pointers in a single half since Kobe Bryant (18 FG, 13 FT, 6 threes) accomplished this in the second half of his 81-point game against the Raptors on January 22, 2006, according to ESPN Research.
Adebayo’s season high prior to Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw at 5:53 remaining in the second quarter, breaking the Heat’s first-half scoring record.
The 31-point quarter marked the highest-scoring quarter in the NBA since Karl-Anthony Towns scored 32 for Minnesota in the third quarter of a game against San Antonio on March 14, 2022.
Alongside Towns and Adebayo, only three other players in the past 30 seasons have scored at least 31 points in a quarter: Klay Thompson set an NBA record for any quarter with 37 in 2015; Kevin Love scored 34 for Cleveland in 2016; and Carmelo Anthony had 33 for Denver in 2008.
The previous Heat record for points in a first quarter was 25, achieved by LeBron James at Cleveland on March 18, 2014. James also recorded the only other 25-point quarter in Heat history, part of his team-record 61-point game against Charlotte on March 3, 2014.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half ranks as the second-best in the NBA over the last 30 seasons, dating back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
Towns had 44 for Minnesota against Charlotte on January 22, 2024.
The NBA record for points in a first half is 53, held by Denver’s David Thompson and San Antonio’s George Gervin, who both achieved this on the same day, April 9, 1978. This was the final day of that regular season, as the two competed (albeit in separate games) for the league’s scoring title.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
