How the Wizards stopped Bam Adebayo from dropping 83 again

Davion Mitchell catches the jump-ball as the Heat roll into their first offensive possession of the night.

Pelle Larsson catches on the right wing, Simone Fontecchio sets a cross screen at the elbow for Bam Adebayo, and Adebayo gets his first touch on the low box.

As he turns into a face-up, he sees two separate Wizards defenders sprinting at him from the perimeter. Yes, a triple team to start the game.

The Wizards sent the triple team at Bam Adebayo on his first touch of the game💀 pic.twitter.com/fTbBzR6OhI
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) April 4, 2026

It's entirely warranted and somewhat expected after the way this last match-up played out.

An eighty-three point night for the Heat's captain became the storyline of the sports world, and pure embarassment for the Washington Wizards roster.

In similar fashion, Tyler Herro and Norman Powell were both ruled out this game, opening the door for a potential offensive pop.

The major difference this time around: Andrew Wiggins and Kel'el Ware were available.

Wiggins got things started with an aggressive beginning to this game, as he got an open transition fingerroll, back to back tough step back threes, and some activity on the offensive glass.

But the real reason that an overly dominant offensive night for Adebayo wasn't needed was because of his fellow big man.

When Adebayo had his big game in the last meeting, he was the lone big available for that one. Erik Spoelstra not only mixed in Ware for this match-up, he put him in with 7 minutes left in the first quarter, and he didn't exit til the walk to the tunnel at halftime.

He sleptwalked into a 16 point, 9 rebound, and 6 block first half in that 19 minute first half stint.

The point is that this all played out as expected for the Miami Heat's game-plan: leverage the Adebayo 83 point night with the added attention, make him a play-maker in the half-court, and let the others on the edges do the heavy lifting on that end.

They will be doing all this over again in less than a week, as the Heat will be heading to Washington this Friday following this upcoming two game set in Toronto. Against that lengthier Raptors defense, the Miami Heat's captain will be vital in the self creation department to carve out some type of offense.

Adebayo is getting more respect and attention around the league no doubt, but if it ever rises to Wizards levels, it'll put the Heat's offense into a new tier with the right talent around him.