On Tuesday, March 10, Bam Adebayo scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards, prompting the biggest media overexaggeration in recent basketball memory.
Miami’s all-star center recorded the second-highest scoring game by an NBA player ever, just below Wilt Chamberlain’s historic 100-point game and above Kobe Bryant’s career high of 81.
Most pundits and players sang the praises of Adebayo’s impressive achievement, using words like “unreal” and “unbelievable”, writes Rant Sport’s Loki de Pontes.
Media reaction over the top
While I don’t disagree that he had a great game, I find the media’s reaction hyperbolic, overenthusiastic, and indicative of a larger issue in American sports.
The most pervasive narrative in the mainstream media was that it was an overwhelmingly positive news story.
On ESPN’s Get Up, Chiney Ogwumike described the performance as “all-time great” and “beautiful”.
Alan Hahn agreed with her, calling it a fun spectacle, and asked viewers to “disregard” the conversation about “ethical hoops”.
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Narratives
While I don’t always necessarily like the discourse surrounding what is “ethical basketball” and what isn’t, it’s very clear to me that a game like this only happens because of narratives.
Forcing the ball to your player at every opportunity, intentionally fouling the opposing team to lengthen the game, and all this while already destroying the opposing team.
This doesn’t happen because your team wants to win the game and improve their playoff seeding.
This only happens because an 83-point game sounds cool. Because people are going to talk about it.
Sport is not reality TV
As someone who follows and loves many sports, including basketball, I hate it when (particularly American) players and teams decide to prioritise them being an “entertainment product”.
This is not reality TV; this is competition, and it should be treated as such.
That’s not even mentioning the insane scoring inflation in the current NBA era.
Having as many free-throw attempts as shots against a team trying to lose, all just to reach a “desirable” points total, is neither historic nor beautiful.
How are we praising this kind of performance when, essentially, both teams wanted him to score?
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