Miami Heat: The Bam Adebayo Slander Is Getting Out Of Hand

The Miami Heat needed Bam Adebayo to be a lot better in these past playoffs.

Adebayo finished the series with just an -11.8 plus/minus while on the floor and for what will ultimately be a standout performance among the Miami Heat’s early exit, in the wrong way, was a 9-point and 4-for-15 performance against Milwaukee in the Game 1 overtime loss. With several opportunities to score, with quite a few being wide-open by NBA standards, and with the Bucks defense dropping back, there were instances where Adebayo wouldn’t even dare to look at the rim but chose to divert to dribble-handoffs for Duncan Robinson and others.

The aftermath of Game 1 was undeniably the lowest point of Bam’s young career. However, what’s been more brutal than the 2020 NBA All-Star’s inability to remain aggressive and take what the defense gave him, has been the ongoing aftermath of relentless criticism for the Heat’s second star.

One of the worst examples, by far, was this. One particular Twitter user chose to refer to Bam as The Warden, Joel Anthony of Miami Heat lore, against the Bucks this season.

As all professional athletes have their supporters and doubters, Bam has mostly been given unfair treatment by the media. Certainly, there was expectation of a better performance, as the Heat were touted for another potential postseason run in the Eastern Conference.

However, it’s also been undersold that this was a Bucks team that vastly improved its roster compared the 2020 offseason. That’s important.