Bam! Heat's Adebayo sets team's single-game scoring record, breaking LeBron James' mark of 61

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MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo had the NBA's highest-scoring game of the season Tuesday night, and rewrote the Miami Heat record book in the process.

Adebayo's dunk with 22 seconds left in the third quarter gave him 62 points for the game, breaking the Heat single-game record of 61 set by LeBron James on March 3, 2014.

The NBA's previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo's basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

And Adebayo only needed the first half to set a career high, too.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

He was 13 for 24 from the field, 12 for 14 from the foul line and 5 for 11 from 3-point range in the first half.

Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo had the NBA's highest-scoring quarter — any quarter — since Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 for Minnesota in the third quarter of a game at San Antonio on March 14, 2022.

Besides Towns and now Adebayo, only three other players in the last 30 seasons had at least 31 points in a quarter.

— Klay Thompson had an NBA record for any quarter with 37 for Golden State against Sacramento in the third quarter on Jan. 23, 2015.

— Kevin Love had 34 for Cleveland against Portland in the first quarter on Nov. 23, 2016.

— Carmelo Anthony had 33 for Denver against Minnesota in the third quarter on Dec. 10, 2008.

The previous Heat record for points in a first quarter was 25, done by James at Cleveland on March 18, 2014. James had the only other 25-point quarter in Heat history, part of his team-record, 61-point game against Charlotte.

Before Tuesday, Adebayo had never scored more than 19 points in a quarter.

Adebayo's 43-point first half was the NBA's second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going 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 Jan. 22, 2024.

The NBA record for points in a first half is 53, shared by Denver's David Thompson and San Antonio's George Gervin — who famously did it on the same day, April 9, 1978. That was the final day of that regular season, as those two dueled (albeit in separate games) to decide the league's scoring title.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA