Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo finally breaks out of the scoring slump

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo said he had a lot of energy during the shoot around Friday morning in Indiana.

He has to bottle the energy. Adebayo needs to save some money for the rest of the Miami Heat’s schedule.

Adebayo broke out of his scoring slump on Friday night with 30 points and 11 rebounds and seven assists. The Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers 124-111 on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“I brought that energy to the game tonight,” Adebayo said. “It’s unnatural to see me shooting less than 50 percent every night.”

Adebayo was 10 of 17 from the field, including two three-point field goals in three attempts.

Adebayo said he got his motivation from watching teammate Kevin Love, who he grew up with, score 15 points in a big third quarter.

The Heat scored 37 points in the third quarter, which was their nemesis through the first two weeks of the season.

“K Love definitely motivated me,” Adebayo said. “He is 18 and plays his role as best he can. I grew up watching him in the final and he is now my teammate.”

Adebayo said the team could have gone into this game with their heads down after their two-point loss to Detroit on Tuesday night. Instead, they came out shooting.

“It really weighs on you when you lose games like that,” Adebayo said. “But it’s an uphill battle and it’s a long season. We’ve learned from our mistakes in other games. We came away with this one.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra was excited when he saw Adebayo play in an important game on Friday evening.

“Once he got going, he did it the right way. The ball finds karma,” Spoelstra said. “The ball just found him and he rolled hard to the rim.

“This is the moment when you really have to enjoy watching him play.”

Scott Salomon is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at [email protected].

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