Edrice Femi Adebayo's mother nicknamed him Bam Bam after the character of the Flintstones, the strongest boy in the world.
The strength that he pointed out as a child has made him one of the best defenders in the NBA.
But Bam Adebayo is much more than brute force.
He is a player capable of winning the NBA skills contest with his height of 2.06 meters and averaging 19 points per game in the regular season with the Miami Heat.
In the first two games of the tie with Celtic he had been almost missing.
This Saturday night, when all eyes were on Jimmy Butler, Adebayo reappeared and had a feast.
The Heat are 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final thanks to their victory in Boston (103-109).
Intimidating in defense, confident in his shots, raising the ball when necessary and even with some luxury assistance, he became the owner of the game and already in the first quarter he had 12 points.
He looked safe, he offered himself, he overflowed.
Despite the fact that Butler only contributed 3 points, the Miami team scored 39 points in the first quarter against the Celtics, an almost humiliating figure for what is supposed to be the best defensive team in the NBA.
The 39-18 run did not leave the game sentenced, but it made things very difficult for Boston.
Bam Adebayo is putting together a strong first half!
16 PTS, 6 AST, 2 STL for the @MiamiHEAT's man in the middle.
pic.twitter.com/XOYWzThFTb
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2022
Adebayo's exhibition was also accompanied by a tremendous aim from beyond 7.24 meters.
Quite the opposite of the second game, when the three-point festival fell on Boston's side.
Despite playing at home, the Celtics did not feel comfortable on the peculiar hardwood floor of TD Garden throughout the first half.
They gritted their teeth on defense and that, coupled with the rest Erik Spoelstra gave Butler and Adebayo, allowed the bleeding to be contained.
Although Adebayo returned to the court and left a few more details, an 8-0 final run allowed the Celtics to win the second quarter 29-23 and go down 47-62 at halftime.
Jayson Tatum beats the buzzer from 3️⃣
The @celtics end the half on an 8-0 run!#NBAConferenceFinals presented by Google Pixel on ABC pic.twitter.com/J9Sh6JXtG7
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2022
Jimmy Butler stayed in the sick bay at half-time. He had played 19 minutes, below his level, and knee inflammation prevented him from returning to the pitch for the second half.
In any other game, that might have meant a loss for the Florida team.
But not this Saturday.
The Heat resisted as best they could, with Adebayo as the leader (he finished the game with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists), accompanied by PJ Tucker (17 points), Max Strus (16) and Kyle Lowry (11).
Ime Udoka, the coach of the Celtics, son of Nigerians and who was captain of the Nigerian national team, could not find solutions against Adebayo (also a Nigerian father, although he opted for the American national team and won gold at the Tokyo Olympics) .
The 24-year-old, who debuted with the Heat in 2017 after just one college term with the Kentucky Wildcats, was already the Celtics' nightmare in the 2020 bubble in Orlando, when the pandemic forced end the season there.
near the miracle
A 3-pointer by Marcus Smart midway through the third quarter made Boston believe it was possible.
Smart had retreated to the locker room a few minutes earlier when Kyle Lowry fell on top of him while twisting his ankle.
The images and his limp even made one fear a goodbye to the season, but a few minutes later the Garden screens showed him trying on in the locker room corridors and then returning to the field to the delight of the public.
The fans in Boston shower Marcus Smart with cheers as he returns to action!
#BleedGreen pic.twitter.com/4TDQNH9yfz
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2022
Despite that triple, Smart was not at his level, nor was Jayson Tatun, the best scorer for the Celtics in the first two games of the Eastern Conference final, which is played to the best of seven and gives access to the NBA Finals.
Tatum stayed yesterday in 10 points.
However, the faith of the Celtics and the spectacular performance of Jaylen Brown, who took the team on his back and finished with 40 points, put the comeback within reach.
The Celtics fell just one point behind with 2:40 left in the game.
A triple by Max Strus and an unlikely basket, of course, by Adebayo prevented the miracle.
The Celtics were condemned for constant turnovers, partly due to their own clumsiness and partly due to pressure from Miami.
Basketball is a game in which the attack over and over again overcomes the defense, but in which good defenses win games.
Boston and Miami are among the best defenders in the championship, but the Celtics forgot about it in the first quarter, when Adebayo laid the law on him.
Of the four quarters, Miami only won that one, the first.
It was enough to win the game.
Bam gets the steal and the score, he's leading the Heat on both ends!
20 PTS and 3 STL for Bam.#NBAConferenceFinals presented by Google Pixel on ABC pic.twitter.com/38huRjJrGs
— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2022
In the Western Conference, Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors beat Slovenian Luka Dončić's Dallas Mavericks 2-1.
This Sunday at 6:00 p.m., San Francisco time (3:00 a.m., Spanish peninsular time) they play the fourth game.
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