Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo made history Tuesday night, scoring 83 points against the Washington Wizards in a performance that ranks second all-time for single-game scoring. Adebayo's outburst drew praise from LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and his girlfriend A'ja Wilson, though he still fell 17 points short of Wilt Chamberlain's legendary 100-point game from 1962.

Chamberlain's record-setting performance came during a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks, where he outscored his Warriors teammates by 31 points while grabbing 25 rebounds. Adebayo's 83-point explosion brought renewed attention to other remarkable single-game achievements across American professional sports, from Shohei Ohtani's six-hit, 10-RBI game to Adrian Peterson's 296-yard rushing performance in 2007.

Among the most impressive feats highlighted was Max Scherzer's 21-strikeout game in 1962, where Washington Senators pitcher Tom Cheney threw 16 innings and struck out a record 21 batters while allowing just one run. The Senators hurler accomplished this despite having only 345 career strikeouts, meaning nearly 6% of his total came in this single record-setting performance.