Rockets' Kevin Durant in Disbelief over Heat's Bam Adebayo's Historic Night

On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets seized the opportunity to bounce back after getting manhandled by the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night, in front of a national audience. The Rockets had to shake back.

But the Toronto Raptors didn't make it easy. Houston held a double-digit lead at the half, yet went into the fourth quarter with just a 3-point lead, remaining consistent and true to their theme this season. The Rockets closed the game out with a 113-99 victory and Kevin Durant was sensational, scoring 29 points on 16 shots, remaining true to his efficiency consistency.

After the game, however, Durant wanted to talk about Miami Heat star big man Bam Adebayo's record-breaking night instead, telling Rockets sideline reporter Vanessa Richardson that he was simply in disbelief upon hearing about Adebayo's night.

"I couldn't believe it when I was hearing it in real time," Durant said. "They was like he's got 30 in the first quarter. He's got 70. Congratulations to Bam. I know how much work he puts in. I looked at the stat sheet, it was pretty crazy. Forty shots, forty free throws, twenty threes. That just, that takes a lot of stamina, man. That takes alot of energy to go out there and put those shots up and also make them.

"Set a record. To surpass Kobe as the second-highest scoring player in the history of the game. I mean, damn. Congrats to him. Huge huge accomplishment. Something we will be talking about forever."

Adebayo scored the most points in a single game in 64 years, scoring 83 total points on 43 shots. The Washington Wizards, by contrast, who the Heat were facing, scored 129 points as a team. As Durant noted, Adebayo surpassed NBA legend and Los Angeles Lakers franchise icon Kobe Bryant's 81-point performance, which Bryant amassed 20 years ago.

Bryant's stat line looked a bit different than Adebayo's, which the "basketball purists" were quick to note in the aftermath of Miami's 150-129 victory over the Wizards. Specifically, Adebayo's 43 free throw attempts drew the ire of many, as that's identical to the number of total shots that he took in the contest.

Adebayo went 20-of-43, making 46.5% of his shots. He also went 7-of-22 from the 3-point line and 36-of-43 from the foul line. Bryant, on the other hand, took 46 shots, making 28 of them, but had 20 free throws, and made 18 of them.

All told, Bryant went 7-of-13 from deep. It shouldn't be a surprise that Bryant made more shots than Adebayo. Bryant is in an entirely different tier of a scorer and player than Adebayo. In fact, Bryant is in the same tier as Rockets superstar Kevin Durant as a scorer.

Some would even put the Rockets superstar ahead of Bryant, as it pertains to scoring ability. It also has to be noted that with the pace of the current NBA, it will take a significant amount of free throws or a near record-setting number of 3-pointers for a player to have a scoring night like that of Adebayo and Bryant.

In fact, it will usually require a combination. And a significant number of minutes, as both players each played 41 minutes in their respective historic scoring performances.

Adebayo and the Heat faced the Rockets fairly recently and led Miami with 24 points, which was second in the game overall behind Durant's 32 points, so he can certainly score. Regardless of how it looks on paper, Adebayo deserves his flowers.