Reggie Miller puts Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo's critics on blast

The controversy surrounding the Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo continues a week after scoring 83 points, surpassing the Los Angeles Lakers' beloved legend, Kobe Bryant. Amazingly, the controversy that keeps getting discussed is more negative than positive — a slight toward Adebayo rather than praise. 

Now, many continue to praise Adebayo for his historic night last week, but the negative voices are unfortunately louder than the positive ones. To score 83 points in a basketball game —high school, AAU, college, NBL (Australia's equivalent to the NBA), or the NBA — is an astronomical feat, and should never be trodden on. 

Yet Adebayo's accomplishment continues to be trodden on, and while he does have his public supporters within the NBA and on morning and afternoon sports talk shows, Reggie Miller, the Hall of Fame sharpshooter himself, was the most vocal this week in Adebayo's favor.

Reggie Miller uplifts Bam Adebayo while tearing down his podcast detractors

Miller, who knows a thing or two about knocking down three pointers with ease as Adebayo did on the night of his 83-point historic night, came out this week and trounced all of the voices who labeled Adebayo's achievement illegitimate, among other words. 

Miller is one of the loudest voices within the NBA media aside from Stephen A. Smith and Charles Barkely, and Miller has had his share of controversial statements in the past, but the one he threw out there in support of Adebayo is the opposite of controversial, and he decided to voice his support this week while the noise continues to swirl, while taking a shot at the tanking Washington Wizards.

"I don't care if its your local church league. You get a chance to go for history you go for it," Miller stated on Sunday's NBA Countdown on NBC . "I'm so tired of all these podcasters and guys who never played the game talking about 'they ruined basketball.' I DO NOT CARE. 83 IS 83. For [Erik] Spoelstra and Bam to be getting a lot of hate from this, Your hate is misdirected. It should be to the Washington Generals!"

Miller is correct on more than one thing he said, but he couldn't be more right about the Wizards. Washington has not been a good basketball team for about a decade now, and it has been terrible for the last few years. This year, they're a tanking team that allowed someone who's not a pure scorer of the basketball to put up 83 on them. 

The Wiards' part in this speaks louder than many have discussed; instead, Adebayo has received the negativity. Miller also couldn't have been more direct in his take. The Wizards aside, exactly how Adebayo got to 83 points has ruffled more feathers than anything else, to which Miller also addressed. 

"I'm ok with how everything transpired. He had 31 after 1, 43 at half, and 70 at some point early in the 4th. What do you want him to do? Self impose and bring himself out? I'm sorry. As Malcolm X would say 'I'm getting the job done."

What's that old sports saying about stopping them from running up the score? Right, stop them. There was no one stopping Adebayo. Right now, there doesn't seem to be anyone stopping the Heat either, having gone 7-3 in their last 10 games, including a seven-game win streak. 

Adebayo will not reach 83 points again this season, nor his career, for that matter. But his significant rise in play since January has helped the Heat move up the standings, and he is playing much better basketball as a result. Twenty points of 80 points, the Heat need Adebayo to score, and that's how the Heat make the playoffs.