ChocolateSunsdae | Suns

187 | 3 hours ago

Want to know what isn’t fun and doesn’t feel like NBA basketball?

A normal Wizards game.

Teams should be trying to go for records and make the games against teams actively trying to lose more interesting.

megaman_cdx | Hornets

70 | 2 hours ago

And you know what else didn’t feel like NBA basketball?

Trying for only the final 10 minutes and tripling a dude because you don’t wanna give up the 2nd place record as well as intentionally fouling players who weren’t Bam to prevent him from getting the record.

Second part is the most egregious part that I’m not sure why people weren’t throwing fits over it. Heat wanted Bam to get record as he got close, Wiz didn’t want to give up record, Wiz fouled non-Bam players (nobody seems to complain about this), Heat intentionally foul in return for more Bam possessions (and this is too far?)

Why CAN the Wiz play corny to prevent the 81 points from being hit but the Heat CAN’T play corny to then reach it? Why did Kobe get to get his 81 more fairly than Bam?

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

34 | an hour ago

You can add one more: the wizards were running down the clock and ruining their own offensive possessions so the heat would get fewer possessions themselves. Insanity.

musicnothing | Jazz

19 | an hour ago

This has been my stance on the whole thing. The Wizards brought it on themselves.

cl353 | Heat

11 | an hour ago

Ppl act like bam hard chased for the whole quarter. He got to 70 completely within the normal game and wizards started doubling which made bam pass just like wat happened in kobes game or when Luka had 73

Difference from Luka’s game is that the wizards got lazy with the double and gave up enough points to let bam have a real shot at passing Kobe so it got weird when both sides went crazy.

Ppl that didn’t watch the game or have issues with it act like it was the whole 4th quarter when it started at 2 mins when bam already had 77 and we only did it twice

turtleface78

2 | an hour ago

counterpoint F both teams for shooting nearly 100 fts. if fans want to watch that they can watch practice

megaman_cdx | Hornets

5 | 44 minutes ago

Tbf tons of fans tuned in on TV and the fans in the stadium were electric for the record, even if it was a FT contest.

35chambers | Wizards

1 | 14 minutes ago

The heat started fouling first yet you’re acting like it was in response to us because you clearly didn’t watch the game and just want to talk shit

cl353 | Heat

3 | an hour ago

U know wat happened the next wizards game? They stormed back from 18 down in the 4th and gave their fans an entertaining OT L instead of a miserable tank blowout

SnarfSniffsStardust | Timberwolves

1 | 35 minutes ago

Like when the Thunder posted the biggest regular season L of all time

FinancialRabbit388 | Lakers

1 | 4 minutes ago

So you think immediate fouls to get your guy the ball back and extend a Wizards game is more entertaining?

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

123 | 3 hours ago

It was also weird how your coach only decided to play defense on Bam in order to stop him from getting 81. No intention of winning a game, just stopping an individual from getting a record. That shit is way more pathetic to me. Spoelstra’s actions were just reactions.

traw056 | Thunder

35 | 3 hours ago

Double and triple teaming the guy who you KNOW is going to shoot the ball seems like the best possible strategy actually haha.

btmalon | Bulls

34 | an hour ago

That’s not what got the reactions from Spo tho. They were winding down the clock on their possessions with 0 intention to score or run any O.

Then when Spo fouled to cut that shit out, they started immediately fouling anyone that wasn’t Bam. If there’s anything to complain about, it’s the Wizards existing as a franchise.

thor_1225 | Heat

7 | an hour ago

Agreed go back to the bullets

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

16 | 2 hours ago

So why didn’t they do that in minute 8 of the first quarter?

What is the strategy you’re talking about for? Is it for stopping a person from getting an individual record? Then yes I agree, the strategy is great.

traw056 | Thunder

-6 | 2 hours ago

Because there was still basketball being played at that point. The heat weren’t intentionally fouling, intentionally missing free throws and turning the ball over by throwing it to bam halfway down the court in triple coverage.

The strategy is to stop the other team from scoring when you know what they want to do. Like in football. If I KNOW you’re going to throw the ball deep, I’m going to adjust my defense to prevent the play that I know you want to run. If I KNOW you’re going to run the tush push, I’m going to line up 4 d lineman in both a gaps and 4 more in the b gaps. You can decide to do something else, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

15 | 2 hours ago

Because there was still basketball being played at that point.

I don’t know what you mean by this. Double teaming Bam in the 1st Q would have been good defensive strategy. Waiting until he’s at 70 to play tough defense on him for the sole reason of stopping him from getting a record is not legit basketball either, and we know this is the sole reason, otherwise the tough defense would’ve been played on him earlier when the game was in reach.

The heat weren’t intentionally fouling, intentionally missing free throws and turning the ball over by throwing it to bam halfway down the court in triple coverage.

They didn’t do this until the Wizards started employing tactics to stop Bam from getting the record.

The strategy is to stop the other team from scoring when you know what they want to do

Yes, obviously. The issue is that everyone and their mothers knew that Bam was taking all the shots that night, he literally had 30 in the 1st Q. It’s not like he exploded late. So if we all knew what Bam was doing, why didn’t they play tough defense on him until the record was in reach and the game was already well lost?

CFBModsHateFun | Heat

10 | 2 hours ago

The guy you’re talking to has clearly not watched the game.

It’s as simple as that.

He doesn’t realize that Bam had a 31-point first quarter, and somehow thinks that doubling Bam earlier would have lost them the game they wanted to lose.

You cannot reason with someone who’s just parroting takes from other people who didn’t watch the game.

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

8 | 2 hours ago

He doesn’t realize that Bam had a 31-point first quarter, and somehow thinks that doubling Bam earlier would have lost them the game they wanted to lose.

The crux of the issue. Well said.

traw056 | Thunder

-8 | an hour ago

Players get hot and have big quarters. The assumption is that he won’t continue to score 30 in every quarter and shoot 70% from 3. Not only that but bam only shot 8 times in the second with only 7 fts. You don’t KNOW that he’s going to shoot the ball every time in the 2nd quarter. He took 30% of their shots in the quarter which isn’t super unusual for star players.

And outside of the first quarter, it’s not like the heat dominated the wizards on the scoreboard. It was a 13 point game with 11 mins left in the game. The heat had only outscored them by 1 from 1 minute left in the first to that point. It wasn’t super competitive of course but still.

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

5 | an hour ago

Let’s grant your first paragraph is true. What about the 3rd Q then, when he also had 20? When he was being left wide open and being given lanes and never being played with toughness and effort?

And outside of the first quarter, it’s not like the heat dominated the wizards on the scoreboard. It was a 13 point game with 11 mins left in the game.

Just exposed yourself for not having watched the game. It was a wire-to-wire win. They were almost up 30 in the 3rd. They were winning by 20 going into the 4th Q. This game was a a blowout was never remotely competitive (until the wiz decided to compete to stop an individual from getting a record). Sorry just no way to defend the wizards behaviour here.

cl353 | Heat

1 | an hour ago

Lol actually it was a 14 pt game at halftime and a 16 point game going into the 4th. Got down to 13 actually early in the 4th

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

1 | 41 minutes ago

It was 19 at 20 secs left in the 3rd and 18 about 10 seconds into the 4th. 28 point lead half way thru the 4th. The point is it was a blowout and even if they got to 13, it was quickly back up to 20 a minute later.

cl353 | Heat

1 | 26 minutes ago

It 100% was a won game by the end of it and everyone knew wat was up but there were valid reasons to keep bam in the game including the fact that we had no back up big available besides just bam wanting to chase 81

traw056 | Thunder

-2 | an hour ago

Yes I know it was wire to wire. That’s why I said it wasn’t competitive even though the score diff was only 1 between those points. For most other teams, a 12 point deficit at the start of the 4th is still competitive and very much in reach but obviously not for that wizards team.

And in the third quarter, he shot 36% and 20% from 3 with the majority of his points coming from the free throw line. I’d excuse the open looks as typical wizards basketball and them sucking ass at playing the sport of basketball. Even still, they weren’t that unsuccessful at defending him. I mean they were, but that was because they were so undisciplined, not because every shot he took was wide open in his sweet spot.

I’m not defending the wizards overall game plan at all. They were terrible too. All I was saying was that double and triple teaming a guy that is almost guaranteed to shoot every time is not a bad idea. Doesn’t matter if they only started doing it late in the game when he was about to break a record.

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

2 | an hour ago

Doesn’t matter if they only started doing it late in the game when he was about to break a record.

You’re acting like there’s some virtue in them giving good defensive effort against Bam because making stops in and of itself is virtuous. But it’s actually not. You need to take in the context. And the critical context which actually makes the good defensive effort WORSE, is that they only started trying for the sole reason of stopping him from getting an individual record.

You say it “Doesn’t matter if they only started doing it late in the game when he was about to break a record” - I say no, that’s precisely the reason why this matters and why the wizards have absolutely no ground to stand on. That you can’t see this is baffling to me.

cl353 | Heat

2 | 43 minutes ago

I get wat ur saying but tripling him full court and on the inbounds while leaving our other players wide open under the basket isnt “good defense to try to win the game” it’s “good defense to stop bam getting 83”

So we responded with a game plan to get bam 83 and not a game plan to secure the already won game

cl353 | Heat

2 | an hour ago

U think Dru smith throwing a full court TO helped bam get to 83?

IllegitimateRisk | Nuggets

8 | 3 hours ago

Spo understood that if the wizards were gonna allow bam to score 31 in the first quarter, then why not use every loophole to ensure he secured a place on the leaderboards.

Strange1130 | Thunder

7 | an hour ago

I assume he just thought what they are doing is disrespectful to basketball to begin with so why not run it up on them, I personally love it.

Reminds me of when the Grizzlies dropped like an 80 point differential on us; yeah we deserved that one lol

cl353 | Heat

1 | 42 minutes ago

Didn’t the grizzlies lose by 80 too that season? That’s a crazy swing iirc

binger5 | Rockets

5 | 3 hours ago

I mean playing defense on the dude who put up 70 already is a good strategy no?

Admirable_Fun7790

24 | 2 hours ago

Generally you start playing defense earlier than 70 pts

whtge8 | Magic

7 | 2 hours ago

They’re trying, Jennifer.

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

2 | 2 hours ago

Lemme add a few asterisks:

*a few wizards players are trying

**the wizards coaching staff is not trying

***the wizards FO is DEFINITELY not trying

NoCustard4201 | Raptors

15 | 2 hours ago

Their defensive strategy on Bam was worse than terrible, did you watch the game? How about playing defense on the dude who had 30 in the first quarter when the game was still in reach?

A team that is actively trying to lose games breaks their facade by showing real effort in the 4th quarter of a lost game to stop an individual record, and then has the audacity to lecture about integrity. Probably the most pathetic few days for a franchise since the Luka trade.

BigBoss5050 | Heat

1 | 22 minutes ago

Nobody actually watched the game, but they all sure do have an opinion about it.

binger5 | Rockets

-2 | 2 hours ago

Dude, these tanking teams complaining are basically wrestlers talking shit. It’s all a performance. Enjoy it.

Strange1130 | Thunder

7 | an hour ago

It’s all a performance.

No it isn’t, they are genuinely upset he did that to them.

rhinoplasm | Celtics

0 | 3 hours ago

No no, when a player is doing well against you, you’re supposed to just leave them alone so they can hopefully set records against you. You must not know ball or appreciate history or you’d know that.

LaMelonBallz | Hornets

9 | 2 hours ago

They left him alone for the first 70 lol

Strange1130 | Thunder

4 | an hour ago

generally when you’re trying to win a game of basketball, you play defense on the biggest offensive threat on the opposing team from the beginning of the game. but the wizards didn’t do that until it became clear he might drop a record on their head, because they didn’t want to fuck around and accidentally win the game.

Diortheking | NBA

4 | 3 hours ago

Wizards dont have the personnel to stop stars even if they wanted to lmao no idea why people keep blaming the worst team in the league for not having great defenders?

Admirable_Fun7790

9 | 2 hours ago

The point is that they’re not the worst team in the league by accident.

cl353 | Heat

3 | 40 minutes ago

They just held paolo to his worst game in weeks lol

Diortheking | NBA

1 | 29 minutes ago

Thats just paolo man lol wizards not a top 25 defense

cl353 | Heat

1 | 28 minutes ago

Yea just the dude averaging 27 since all star break

U don’t have to be a top 25 defense to play defense on a guy that’s hot. Bam had 43 at half time and they didn’t send a single double until he had 70 lol

Panzer_I | Celtics

4 | an hour ago

To be fair to the wizards, then never once tried to win that game.

The only thing they put effort into was preventing bam from scoring more. Bam would’ve had 100 if they didn’t. G-league ass team

Folk-Herro | Heat

1 | an hour ago

I was trying to make this point to my co worker the day after it happened and I was shocked how he and many people seem to think Miami should have just bench him and not try to win anymore. Like the wizards did not want to win that game at all, did not respect the game one bit and had not throughout the season yet it’s Miami that has uphold the respect for the game and the opposing team? Because of reputation and sentimentality?

Rickyowensdenim

-1 | 3 hours ago

I’ve seen so many braindead takes about this game but I think this one takes the cake

jeffteague4mvp | Celtics

-3 | an hour ago

So, they blitzed the player who was hot? 😱

cl353 | Heat

1 | 37 minutes ago

They biltzed when bam got to 70, they still allowed him to get to 77 with 2 mins left.

That’s when they started going extra like running out the clock and tripling him full court and on the inbounds

Which is fine, they couldn’t stop him with 2. But it’s also fine that we responded in kind to that lvl of “idc wat happens ur not getting 83 on us”

Ppl genuinely forget the only reason we intentionally missed a ft is cuz they intentionally fouled that player so bam couldn’t get a shot

pureproteinbarssuck

85 | 3 hours ago

This is such a non issue man let’s move the fuck on. NBA is so toxic

kamekaze1024

11 | an hour ago

Basketball fans hate basketball

Someonediffernt | PHO

11 | an hour ago

“Nba fans don’t like anything about the nba and it’s weird.” - Kevin Durant

Dazzling-Slide8288

-6 | 42 minutes ago

The reason everyone hates this is precisely because that last quarter wasn’t basketball

kamekaze1024

4 | 36 minutes ago

I don’t think the first 3 quarters were basketball from the wizards. Bam was in the 60s at the end of the third quarter. He was already on pace for 80. They never bothered doubling or tripling him once until he started going for Kobe’s record.

This is legit no different than how Wilt got his 100.

BigBoss5050 | Heat

1 | 24 minutes ago

Last 2 mins. You didnt even watch the game, yet here you are proving kamekazes point lol

mMounirM | Raptors

21 | 3 hours ago

What’s also weird is Trae Young not playing in the 4th quarter against Orlando. hmmmmm I wonder why

ComprehensiveList769 | Hawks

2 | 2 hours ago

Especially when his nickname is Ice

BowserBuddy123 | Heat

1 | 9 minutes ago

He just had to Ice his knees. That’s all.

eggwhite0 | Knicks

17 | 2 hours ago

If you didn’t let Bam Adebayo of all people score 70, you don’t get to this point

efshoemaker | Celtics

5 | an hour ago

Exactly. This is a guy who has been held under 10 pts this season more times than he’s scored 30, and in over 700 career games has only one other game where he scored 40+. Bam is a great player but he is not the kind of scorer that can just go nuclear and put up a million points against an NBA defense that is trying to win the game.

The wizards were not taking the game seriously and it allowed an unserious thing to happen. The blame starts and ends with them and I’m glad Bam made such asses out of them.

CurryMustard | Heat

17 | 2 hours ago

Says the tanking team that started triple teaming bam and fouling other players to keep the ball away from him 🙄

RogRoz | Heat

1 | 26 minutes ago

The fouling by the Heat starter after the Wizards started intentionally fouling non Bam players on the inbounds

Kodak333 | Hawks

-11 | an hour ago

That’s was all after y’all were intentionally fouling and missing free throws on purpose. Heat culture

15GOAT | Hawks

9 | an hour ago

As a Hawks fan and Heat hater myself let’s not start lying lol. I saw the full 4th on TV. First and only time the Heat intentionally fouled and missed a free throw was after the Wizards intentionally fouled someone else on the Heat so that Bam couldn’t put up a shot. Washington was an embarrassment

cl353 | Heat

0 | 34 minutes ago

How do u think we’re in a position to intentionally miss a ft if they didn’t intentionally foul keshad johnson first lmao

How do u think he even touched the ball to get fouled? Cuz the wizards triple teamed bam full court and forced him to pass it to keshad

Ur just parroting dumb shit u say other ppl said without ever even looking at the game

TheRealJohnMara | Heat

8 | 2 hours ago

Did any of these players watch the game? The Wizards were putting 4 players on Bam in a full court press so they have to pass the ball to someone else and they would foul that other player to give other players free throws to avoid Bam beating Kobe’s record. Spo just did it back…

If any other player in the league had 79 points, I bet you their coach would do everything possible to get a few more points for him.

GeorgeRusseIl | Heat

9 | an hour ago

Trae had a front row seat sitting on the Wizards bench lmao. He even dapped up Bam after the game was over.

I guess he has to stick up from his teammates who got torched, but let’s be real. The intentional fouling from the Heat started as a reaction to the Wizards triple teaming Bam and intentionally fouling other players so that they would be on the line instead.

BowserBuddy123 | Heat

1 | 3 minutes ago

A couple folks made some good points that guys like Embiid, Harden, Steph, Klay have all scored massively and then sat the fourth often when their team was leading, but tbh, why? I understand the injury concern, but just let them go after it. The NBA needs more basketball related storylines. I think after Bam did this, everyone will clench their butts a lot less about allowing their guys to stick it out in the fourth and try to get those records. The coaches may have benched these guys, but no way Embiid doesn’t wish he had second most points all time after scoring 70 through three.

All I know is as a human and someone who played MyPlayer in the past, I’d be pissed if I was benched in the fourth with 70 through three. I imagine the players are just going along to be good sports. But let’s be honest, with all these tanking teams, do we need to be good sports with them? If they are intentionally losing while collecting money from fans, we should just embarrass the shit out of them and make going to their games intolerable. As a fan, it doesn’t make me feel better that my team is in it through three and then rests starters in the fourth. Maybe if the goal is to get AJ Dybantsa, but like, the product sucks and they may not get anyone.

Flashy-Truth-8826 | Knicks

5 | 3 hours ago

Spo’s reply apparently

Anxious_Armadillo484

3 | 2 hours ago

A professional foul baiter saying this is hilarious

tisdue | Suns

1 | 2 hours ago

yeah it seems like Bam actually had a 60 point game. Which would have been very impressive and not slighted.

cl353 | Heat

1 | 32 minutes ago

Huh? He had 77 points at the time of the first intentional foul. Wat r u talking about he had a 60 point game? He had that shit in the 3rd

tisdue | Suns

1 | 11 minutes ago

at least 23 points of that performance didnt seem legit

dextermanypennies

1 | an hour ago

Jelly

IEatDummyCheeks | Kings

1 | 40 minutes ago

I think getting an entire team and front office to collectively have a silent agreement to deliberately lose is weirder.

While we’re at it, I think the NBA should rescind 16 points from SGA last night, he needs to respect Wilts’ record!

McKnightmare24 | Lakers

1 | 27 minutes ago

Heat culture

Sinndu_

0 | 2 hours ago

Didn’t know Spoelstra was also coaching the Wizards!

SignalBed9998 | Bulls

0 | 37 minutes ago

Yes it was. It showed knowledge of it having been done for Wilt or if not that he thought it up himself

bhau_huni | Cavaliers

-1 | 3 hours ago

Thats why a lot of people aren’t really giving him credit

cl353 | Heat

1 | 30 minutes ago

Only the ppl that didn’t watch the game and exaggerate wat happened

For example let me ask u at wat time do u think we started intentionally fouling and how many times do u think we did it

On the other hand wat time did the raptors pull their starters and give up during the Kobe game and how many points did Kobe have at that time?

Kodak333 | Hawks

0 | an hour ago

It’s crazy how NBA players and coaches have said it was bullshit but this sub won’t hear it lmao

ComfortableGas3165

-5 | 3 hours ago

reddit gets mad when lebron cherry picks but not with this apparently.. picky n choosy

running_wired

-5 | 3 hours ago

Guys Erik is just an evolutionary trendsetter. He’s into NFTs now. There is going to be a crossover with Pokemon to celebrate Bam’s non record scoring record. He’s going to start working ‘6 or 7’ into his pressers.

random_idiot_lul | 76ers

5 | 3 hours ago

Get that bag Spo

Admirable_Fun7790

1 | 2 hours ago

a lotta yall still dont get it

ape holders can use multiple slurp juices on a single ape

so if you have 1 astro ape and 3 slurp juices you can create 3 new apes

Tonight’s slurp juice mint event is essentially a minting event for both Lab Monkes and Special Forces

EternallyEuphoric | Heat

1 | an hour ago

Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about.

Admirable_Fun7790

1 | an hour ago

https://youtu.be/FUaaGRLEbm0?si=Y48fPtoq2ppWQER6

SlushyXoo | Celtics

-9 | 2 hours ago

You’d think Bam would gain respect for his performance that game, but he lost a lot of respect and the performance became foolish. Really bad look.

F______________F | Heat

2 | an hour ago

He didn’t lose respect wtf are you talking about lol? Majority have been giving him praise. I think he can handle losing respect from Ice Cube’s son, Kelly Oubre, Gordon Howard, the Wizards coach, and Trae sitting on the bench. Other than that it’s been overwhelming respect from guys like Wade and Lebron, which means a little more…

Someonediffernt | PHO

1 | 33 minutes ago

Have you considered that dweebs on reddit think its fake and doesnt count? Like a ton of other 70+ pt games or championships won in the past 8 years, which they also have a list of reasons why they didn’t count.

It’s a real shame the league made them the arbiter of legitimate basketball

AdamSilverJr | Heat

1 | 17 minutes ago

MJ texted him too to congratulate him. He doesn’t care about Gordon fucking Hayward’s opinion lol

[Robbins] Trae Young on the Bam Game: “It was kind of weird, them fouling… just to give him more possessions. It was a weird thing. It wasn’t very Erik Spoelstra-like.”