Bam Adebayo sends a playful warning to Udonis Haslem to break his records in Miami

ByNBAUSA


MIAMI – Ace Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo is chasing Udonis Haslem’s record for the most rebounds in team history, Tuesday marked a milestone in that pursuit. The The Heat’s star in Adebayo showed his defensive prowess in a 124-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, as he sent a message to Haslem to close in on his record.

While Haslem still holds the rebounding record with 5,791, his defensive rebound mark of 4,176 was eclipsed by Adebayo, who now has 4,180 total after grabbing eight of them on Tuesday. Adebayo and Haslem have a close relationship off the court, but also a friendly rivalry over the star looking to break the entire record sooner rather than later, with the 28-year-old 235 boards away.

“I’m on my way.” He knows that, that gap is getting closer and closer,” Adebayo told ClutchPoints after scoring a game-high 23 points with nine rebounds. “Being part of this organization, the guys in front of me, records are meant to be broken, but they want you to earn them. And obviously I’m earning it every game, and at some point it’s going to happen.”

In addition to breaking records, the Heat’s Bam Adebayo also plays elite defense

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) looks on against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Adebayo also shows how he is one of the best defenders in the league, as he led the NBA in defensive rating (99.7) in February. After the rare occurrence of not being on the NBA All-Defensive team last season, he believes people could be “tired of seeing consistency.”

“But the criteria has changed as I’ve gotten older in this league,” Adebayo said after also tying a career-high six steals and posting a team-high +22 on the floor Tuesday. “You’ve got guys that do that that don’t make the playoffs, they’re at the bottom of the league record…I don’t know if it’s just voter fatigue, but I’m always going to be a first-team defense. That’s never going to change, no matter what the voters say. My peers know that.”

Outings like this from Adebayo are especially needed at this point in the season, with the team trying to climb out of eighth-seeded purgatory and play in the tournament as it has for the past three seasons. Adebayo would emphasize that after the win over the Nets “We can’t have any more misses.”

“We had enough in the first half of the season, and you have to hold each other to a higher standard and accountability,” Adebayo said. “And it gets uncomfortable sometimes, because you feel like you don’t want to go too far, but in that sense, man, we’re past that stage, and we’re trying to do something special, and it’s going to take all of us, and we’re going to have to hold each other accountable in some intense situations.”

Warmth Erik Spoelstra on Bam Adebayo chasing Udonis Haslem’s record

With Teams facing the Heat who could be accused of tanking, they were in business on Tuesday night against the now 15-46 Nets, led by a commanding performance from Adebayo. As a longtime teammate, Tyler Herro would talk about Adebayo is having one of his better defensive seasonsanother who has been watching the big man closely is head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Apart from basketball, Spoelstra would talk about “quality human being” that Adebayo, who has earned his chance to break Haslem’s record, is a former player who carried the franchise’s flag.

“I know he’s chasing him, so I’m sure he’s going to tell him something. He wants to get the full rebounding record, but that’s a testament to his consistency, and we like to see that,” Spoelstra said. “There are records for that, you know, to break, especially when quality people break records. And Bam is a quality human being. And you know UD will end up loving it when BAM ends up passing him.”

“But he sets the tone in that first quarter,” Spoelstra continued. “I think he had four steals; he had a couple of blocks in the first half, he really solidified our defense. And this is two very good defensive games back-to-back. Our defense has been good all year, but we had to really step up to a high level to finish this regular season.”

Either way, Adebayo and Miami look to keep it going as they face Brooklyn once again on Thursday with a 33-29 record that puts them in eighth place in the East, although they’re a half-game behind the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.





2026-03-04 04:49:00

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