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Kelly Oubre Jr. Suggesting that Joel Embiid’s 70-Point Game was More Efficient than Bam Adebayo’s 83-Point Game
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Bam Adebayo scored 83 points against the Wizards on Tuesday night. 83!
It was ridiculous. The guy shot 43 free throws in a 150-129 win. Miami was fouling while up by 20 points trying to get the ball back. It was hardly basketball, but it was entertaining.
Kelly Oubre Jr., who had a great game himself in a win over the Grizzlies, was asked about Bam’s performance:
This went over some people’s heads. Joel Embiid didn’t score 83 points. He scored 70. But Oubre is saying that Joel’s historic night was more efficient and more real than Adebayo’s night.
Let’s compare.
Joel Embiid vs. Spurs (January 22nd, 2024)
70 points on 24-41 shooting, 1-2 from three, 21-23 from the foul line, 37 minutes played.
This was a home game against a Spurs team that had yet to turn the corner. They were just 8-35 at the time with rookie Wembanyama on the squad. The other four starters were Julian Champagnie, Jeremy Sochan, Tre Jones, and Devin Vassell. The Sixers had a starting five of Embiid, Nic Batum, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and Oubre.
Joel’s shot plot:
Bam Adebayo vs. Wizards (March 10th, 2026)
83 points on 20-43 shooting, 7-22 from three, 36-43 from the foul line, 42 minutes played.
Also a home game against a bad team, just 16 wins for the Wizards at this point in the season. Washington rolled out Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley, and Tre Johnson. Miami started Bam, Myron Gardner, Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson, and Kasparas Jakucionas.
Bam’s shot chart:
For Adebayo, it’s 83 points divided by 42 minutes, for a 1.97 points-per-minute ratio. Embiid scored 70 points in 37 minutes, which is 1.89 points-per-minute. Slight edge, Bam.
Embiid had the better shooting percentage, 58.5%, and wasn’t chucking up threes. Bam was 31.8% from three on Wednesday night and scored 43% of his points from the foul line. Joel also spent a lot of time at the line during his big game, but 21 points only amounts to the 30% of his total output, and Joel was 91% from the foul line that night while Bam was 83.7%.
So yeah, Joel was probably more efficient than Bam, but does it really matter? Probably not. Good social media argument fodder, though.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com