Tag: Bam Adebayo

Udonis Haslem was hilariously gifted a rocking chair by the Miami Heat ahead of his last regular-season game

The Miami Heat had the most hilarious gift for Udonis Haslem ahead of his regular-season finale.

Ahead of his final regular-season game with the Miami Heat on Sunday, longtime NBA player Udonis Haslem got quite the parting gift from the franchise.

During a ceremony held pregame for Haslem, Heat center Bam Adebayo gave the retiring veteran a hilarious gift to commemorate all the jokes they’ve shared between each other.

Adebayo’s parting prank for Haslem was giving him a Heat-themed rocking chair, which got a delightful response from the Miami legend.

Haslem joked that his old friend Dwayne Wade should join him on the court during the presentation, with Wade looking on from the sideline to celebrate his longtime teammate.

The rocking chair did have three NBA Finals trophies on the side to commemorate the three titles that Haslem won with the franchise.

Haslem will conclude his role as the NBA’s eldest statesman once the Heat’s season ends. He’s the oldest active player in the league at 42 and has been with Miami since 2003.

His retirement will signal another broken tie with a different era of the NBA, but the Heat seem very determined to send him out in style.

Haslem celebrated his regular-season finale by putting on a show in the first quarter.

He scored 13 points in one frame against the Orlando Magic, the most he’s scored in any game since the 2015 season, and banked only the seventh 3-pointer of his career.

Wade sat right by the court and sported a Haslem jersey to support his pal.

It turned out to be a special Sunday for Haslem, who will now prep for his final playoff appearance with Miami.

Bam Adebayo roasted his mom after she won a free cruise at a Heat game

Adebayo was having NONE of his mom’s excitement.

The Miami Heat weren’t the only big winners in South Florida Wednesday night.

During a 138-119 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Heat flew out free cruise prizes via parachute for lucky fans who happened to catch them. Bam Adebayo’s mother happened to be one of those fortunate people, and she was absolutely glowing about it.

And understandably so! A free cruise! Who wouldn’t be happy about it?

In a postgame interview, Adebayo seemingly wasn’t so convinced. The reporter jokingly compared Adebayo’s mom’s excitement to when her son was named an All-Star twice.

Adebayo proceeded to drop a subdued line about how his mom apparently doesn’t even like boats:

Amazing. Adebayo could’ve so easily told a white lie and said some line about how happy he is for his mom (which he still might be!). Instead, he seemed kind of hilariously shocked about her cruise joy.

Incredible. No notes.

1 bettor hit an absurd NBA first-basket method parlay to turn 77 cents into $18K

How does one get so lucky?!

What’s it like to be on the winning end of one of those incredibly lucky parlays you only really see on social media?

I ask because I genuinely want to know that feeling for myself. And maybe no parlay has invoked that longing more than the three-legger somebody hit Thursday on NBA methods of first basket.

Just look at these incredibly random and specific predictions about the first made basket of three separate games: Bam Adebayo layup, Cam Johnson 3-pointer, Al Horford…other. OTHER!

The odds on this parlay were so long, it only took 77 cents for this bettor to make $18,000. Bruh, how?!

Picking the first scorers of a game alone, without trying to guess how they’ll score is considered a sucker’s market. It’s just not something you have a good chance of winning.

But if you can get the odds so long that you can risk less than a dollar — and potentially make more than I’ve even loss in my betting career — what’s really the harm?

Well, actually, we all know the harm. Because the vast majority of us will just bleed money trying to find out.

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10 candidates to win the inaugural Jerry West Trophy for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year Award

There are a lot of candidates from a team coached by Mr. Big Shot.

How do you define clutch when it comes to NBA basketball?

It’s a question that even NBA executives don’t know how to answer. But starting this year, voters around the league will have to come up with some measurements to define this word because the league announced that at the end of the season, they will begin handing out the Jerry West Trophy for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year.

Even if the idea of what it means to be a clutch basketball player feels immeasurable, someone is going to hoist the trophy at the end of this NBA campaign. So we wanted to look at who the top candidates are based on how the season has played out thus far.

For this story, we used resources from Inpredictable as well as PBPStats and NBA.com. You can learn more about Inprecictable’s Clutch Win Probability Added (clWPA) or how PBPStats defines high-leverage possessions.

Ranking: The Top 25 centers for the 2022-23 season

HoopsHype ranks the top 25 centers ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season, including MVP favorites Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.

We complete our offseason ranking series today with our projected Top 25 centers ahead of the 2022-23 season.

This position group is an interesting one in that the top-two guys on the list are MVP candidates – the No. 1 and No. 2 finishers in the voting for the award over the last two years, in fact – while the bottom of the ranking is made up of a fairly average group of low-level starters and high-level backups.

Regardless, thanks to the top guys in the ranking, the center spot has made a resurgence in the modern NBA in a big way after many thought the position to be left in the past due to the importance of versatility, three-point shooting and the abandonment of low-post play in today’s game.

Below, check out the Top 25 centers for the 2022-23 season, as voted on by a panel of our writers and editors.

Bam Adebayo reacts to Kevin Durant trade rumors: ‘I can’t control that’

Heat star Bam Adebayo reacted to the Kevin Durant trade rumors, which have been running rampant since Durant announced his trade request.

While most of the league has slowed their pursuit of superstar Kevin Durant, there have been rumors that the Miami Heat are still going after the former MVP.

Established big Bam Adebayo reacted to the trade rumors in an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“It is what it is, control what you can control. Obviously it’s an opportunity for something, but in my opinion, control what you can control. I can’t control that.”

This may come as good news to Durant as Miami was one of his two preferred landing destinations. However the Nets have decided to stand-pat, awaiting a trade package they feel matches the sharpshooting forward’s value.

[pickup_prop id=”25864″]

According to reports, the Nets are uninterested in a trade revolving around Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro, taking the stance that Adebayo is required for the team to consider trading Durant to Miami.

Adebayo doesn’t seem necessarily shaken up by the rumors and the rest of the league has shown an unwillingness to ship out their young talent and draft stock to Brooklyn.

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3 observations: Butler’s late 3 misses, Celtics advance to finals

The Celtics snatched a 100-96 victory from the jaws of defeat as Jimmy Butler’s questionable three-point attempt with less than 12 seconds remaining was just a bit off the mark.

The Boston Celtics (3-3) visited the Miami Heat (3-3) in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. The winner earned a date with the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA finals. The Celtics snatched a 100-96 victory from the jaws of defeat as Jimmy Butler’s questionable three-point attempt with less than 12 seconds remaining was just a bit off the mark.

Jayson Tatum scored 26 points on 9-for-21 shooting. He also pulled down 10 rebounds and dished 6 assists.

Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart combined for 48 points on 16-for-37 shooting, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists.

Butler played the entire game, scoring 35 points on 13-for-24 shooting. Bam Adebayo contributed 25 points on 12-for-21 shooting and ripped down 11 rebounds.

Here are 3 observations from the Celtics’ victory.

Layup Lines: The Miami Heat don’t stand a chance without Bam Adebayo

The Heat need Bam Adebayo now more than ever

Welcome to Layup Lines, our daily NBA newsletter where we’ll prep you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

What’s good, family. It’s Sykes, once again, here to usher you into tonight’s playoff action. But first, a quick word on Bam Adebayo.

Two seasons ago in the NBA Bubble, it was Bam Adebayo who put away the Boston Celtics. There was no one on that roster that could guard him.

Daniel Theis was too slow. Everyone else was too small. He got to the rim at will. I haven’t even mentioned the terror that he was on the defensive end — something that probably still haunts Jayson Tatum’s nightmares to this day.

That’s the Bam Adebayo Heat fans remember. That’s the Bam that looked like he could be the best player on the Miami Heat in a year or two.

But that Bam has yet to show up in this year’s postseason — especially not against today’s version of the Boston Celtics. Miami Heat fans are two seconds away from photoshopping his face on a virtual milk carton.

Through two games, Adebayo has just 10 shots and he’s only scored 16 points. He’s got four blocks, but he got them all in Game 1. He hasn’t attacked at all. He’s only setting screens, catching the ball, and looking for the next dribble handoff.

It’s not just this series, either. Adebayo has taken a step back throughout this postseason. The most alarming stat? His field goal attempts per game. It’s a basic stat, sure. But it also helps us track aggression. It can tell us just how involved a player is in the offense.

Adebayo’s shot attempts have fallen from 13 per game in the regular season to just 8.2 per game in the postseason. As the team’s second-best player and an offensive fulcrum, that’s unacceptable.

Now, all of that might not be on Bam. Per NBA.com’s stats tool, his touches per game have also dropped to 54.2 in the playoffs from 65 per game in the regular season. The Heat need to find more creative ways to get him the ball and he needs to attack with it.

In Game 3, they’ll need to figure this out. Because what’s happening now? It simply ain’t going to cut it here. Not if the Heat want to make it back to the NBA Finals.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

(Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

As a Wizards fan, I’m finding myself diving deeply into NBA draft content. Luckily, I work with draft guru Bryan Kalbrosky who has kept me in the loop with all the buzz surrounding every prospect in the draft.

One that Bryan hipped me to early was Jalen Williams, who measured in at 6’5 with a 7’2 wingspan at the NBA Draft Combine. Sounds intriguing, right? Yet, somehow, this kid was viewed as a 2nd round pick coming into this week. I can assure you that won’t be the case after the combine, though.

Kalbrosky wrote about players who raised their stock at the combine. Williams was among them. Why? Because of this, Kalbrosky wrote.

“Williams is just 6’4.5″ without shoes, but his max vertical reach of 12’0.5″ is ahead of vertical athletes like Aaron Gordon and John Collins as well as rim protectors like Rudy Gobert. (Yes, you read that right. This man can actually get higher than Gordon, Collins, and Gobert.)”

Man, what? Wizards, please. Y’all know what to do, man.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

Warriors (-6.5, -280) vs. Mavericks (+220), O/U 213.5, 9 PM ET

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Warriors looked absolutely dominant in Game 1. They did one of the best jobs we’ve seen all season in defending Luka Doncic — he was held to just 20 points on 18 shots. But Luka is a great player. And great players aren’t normally held down like that two games in a row. I think the Warriors win a close game 2, but I’m taking the over.

Who’s in and out?

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Andre Iguodala (neck) remains out for the Golden State Warriors with a neck strain.

Gary Payton II (elbow) also remains out for the Golden State Warriors with a fractured elbow.

Shootaround

Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

— The 76eres have a long list of offseason goals they’ll need to accomplish. Here are 3 of them from Sixers Wire.

— Al Horford passed through the NBA’s COVID protocols in the nick of time for Game 2. Here are details on the whirlwind leading to that.

— Looking for the latest mock draft? We’ve got your consensus mock right here.

— Marcus Smart is the point guard the Celtics have always been looking for. They’ve finally figured it out and it’s paying off.

That’s all, y’all! Enjoy the basketball tonight.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA).

Bam Adebayo hilariously made fun of Tyler Herro’s post Game 1 fit by rolling up his sleeves

LOL

Tyler Herro’s postgame fits are fast becoming social media fodder.

But you’ve got to respect what he’s putting on! It’s bold! It’s fun!

After the Miami Heat took down the Boston Celtics 118-107 on Tuesday night, Bam Adebayo stepped up to the podium to chat with reporters. Herro showed up a little bit later — “fashionably late,” in his words — and Adebayo started laughing at what he saw.

Then? Adebayo rolled up his sleeves, imitating Herro’s sleeveless look.

It was a hilarious moment, and it reminded us of another time that Herro got teased for what he was wearing. Let’s break it all down:

Three observations from Boston Celtics’ Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat

The Heat outscored the Celtics by 25 points in the third quarter to take control of the affair and hand Boston a 1-0 deficit in the series.

The Boston Celtics opened their2022 Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat on Tuesday. The Heat were looking to open the series with a victory on their home floor. The Celtics wanted to steal homecourt advantage from Miami with a Boston victory in Game 1. The Heat, however, outscored the Celtics by a game-shifting 25 points in the third quarter to take control of the affair and hand Boston a 1-0 deficit in the series.

The Celtics’ star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 53 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 steals in the loss. Miami star Jimmy Butler led all scorers with 41 points, 17 of which he earned at the charity stripe. Payton Pritchard and Tyler Herro each scored 18 points off the bench for their respective teams.

Here are 3 observations from the Celtics’ Game 1 loss.