Wednesday, December 11th, 2019

• Miami’s surprising start to the season revolves around an emerging big man

• Last night was a dream for small colleges

• Trae Young’s proclamation ignites a 22-0 run for the wrong team

• A John Stockton tribute

Tonight's must-watch game

Tap the box to set a reminder

The lead: Bam Adebayo, Miami’s hidden gem  

A lot has been made of the 18-6 Miami Heat this season.(As we pointed out in yesterday’s newsletter, the Heat’s net rating is a little dubious and they’ve benefited from a weak schedule, but we digress.)Part of the bloated win total has been the free agent addition of star Jimmy Butler, but an almost equal part has been the Pascal Siakam-esque emergence of stretchy third-year power forward Bam Adebayo, who tallied his first triple double (30-11-11) in last night’s overtime win against Atlanta (more on that later).Adebayo's first name is:

1. Awesome

2. Unfortunately, not actually his first name. His real name is Edrice, which is nice, too. Bam is his technical nickname, and is inspired by Flintstone character Bamm-Bamm.

 His traditional stats are impressive and show his versatility: 

• 15.3 PPG | 10.4 RPG | 4.4 APG | 1.2 blocks | 1.4 steals

His advanced stats are, as well: 

• 20.4 PER | 102 defensive rating, first among Heat players who have played more than 10 games | Miami’s two best offensive lineups (min. 30 minutes) both include him

And don’t get us started on the eye test:

A lot of Miami’s offense runs through Adebayo, who is third on the Heat in touches, with 58.2 per game. He can bring the ball up, run a nice fastbreak, and can pass from the top of the free throw line to outsider shooters and players in the paint.He is, as The Ringer pointed out last month, a lot like Draymond Green -- can score a little bit, can rebound, can play defense, and is unusually good at passing for a big man. Plus, his jumpshot is broken (he’s one of eight from 3 this season), just like Draymond.

 2. Trae Young: False prophet 

After Trae Young passed to Alex Len for an easy dunk to go up, 117-111, with under a minute left last night, Young declared that the game was over.It was, of course, not. The Heat responded with a 22-0 run and won in an overtime blowout, 135-121, to improve to 11-0 at home.On the plus side, Atlanta is one loss closer to a bottom-four spot.

 3. QUIZ 

Who owns the record for most assists in an NBA game?

Answer at the bottom. 

 4. Last night was a great night for the little fish 

Three random and improbable things happened last night, all intertwined by the thread of the obscure and remote reaches of college basketball: 

1. Holy Cross (Division I) lost to UMass-Boston (Division III) last night, 69-66, in overtime, in a game the Crusaders paid UMB to play in. 

2. Miami’s Duncan Robinson, who played for tiny Division III Williams College in 2015 before transferring to Michigan, nailed 10 3-pointers and dropped 34 points in the win over the Hawks. For reference, 10-plus 3s has only happened 49 times in a game in NBA history. 

1. J.J. Culver, brother of Timberwolves rookie Jarrett Culver, who plays for Wayland Baptist University, an NAIA school (similar to Division II or Division III), scored 100 points in a single game last night. Here’s little bro’s reaction and here’s J.J. recreating the obligatory Wilt 100 points picture.

 5. 12/11/1989-90: John Stockton ruled this day 

On this day in 1989, John Stockton tallied 14 points, four rebounds and 22 assists in a loss to the Cavaliers.One calendar year later, Stockton put up 15 points and 21 assists in a win against the Warriors. In that same season, he broke his own personal best for assists in a season, at 1,164, which still stands today.For comparison: Chris Paul’s 925 assists in 2007-08 is the most in a season since 2000. Stockton’s record will probably never be broken. [WATCH: John Stockton’s career mixtape]

• Washington’s Davis Bertansabsolutely went off last night for 32 points and eight 3s. His last six games: 23.7 points, six made 3s per game, 50.7 percent from 3.

• “Oh you got some hood tendencies” - Jimmy Butler to Tyler Herro.

• Following his injury last month, Ja Morant is hoping the league can move the cameramen further away from the basket.

• Joel Embiidwith the circus shot to end the third quarter last night.

• “He got six titles yet?” - Scottie Pippen, to a TMZ hound, on behalf of every NBA fan 30 or older, on Luka Dončić being compared to Michael Jordan.

• An oral history of the shot that changed Toronto and Kawhi Leonard forever [The Ringer]

• Knicks players aren’t allowed to say why David Fizdale was fired [The New York Post]