Adam Bickerstaff scores career-high 54 points with some extra motivation in Tempe
Bickerstaff
Heading into the Tempe Draft League on Tuesday night, UH Hall of Famer Adam Bickerstaff had played 271 career games without scoring 50 points in a single game. He had come close, scoring 40 or more in a game eight separate times, including scoring a career-high 47 twice.
His 272nd game was different though, as Bickerstaff set a new career high by seven points, going off for 54 in a 110-82 win over Shhh.
What was different about this game compared to the prior 271 of Bickerstaff’s career?
“It started with (Trai Myers) saying I sucked right at the beginning of the game and that got me going. I think I ran off about 13 points in a row after he said something to me” Bickerstaff said. “Once I got going, I kept pointing at him and saying this is your fault every time I scored. He was real quiet the second half.”
Here’s a video of just two of the 54 points Bickerstaff scored last night, which was an and-one layup he scored after getting by Myers.
That trash talk from Myers got Bickerstaff to shoot 16-22 from the field, 10-16 from deep and a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line.
When Bickerstaff told me why he got so hot in the game, it reminded me immediately of Reggie Miller going off for 25 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals after Spike Lee started talking trash from his court-side seats. Great basketball players are already capable of going off on any given night, but sometimes the extra motivation can be a nail in the coffin, and that was the case for Bickerstaff last night once Myers opened his mouth.
Another thing that might have lifted Bickerstaff to his career high was a tribute to Kobe Bryant.
“I was wearing Kobe’s too and my nickname is the White Mamba in Arizona, so I think he came out last night,” Bickerstaff said.
It’s been incredible to see the ways different basketball players from different levels have honored Kobe, from a college basketball player scoring 81 points in Philadelphia, to a high schooler hitting a game-winning shot while wearing number 24 and the crowd chanting Kobe’s name in Arizona, to Joel Embiid scoring 24 points while wearing a number 24 jersey.
This career-best scoring performance comes fewer than three weeks since Bickerstaff gave reasoning for why he dropped to the second round in the Gilbert draft.
“I went second round because i am coming off an injury and not 100%, out of shape and fat,” he said in a comment on the Facebook post of the Gilbert draft board.
He claimed that he “almost died” on the court last night because he’s still out of shape, but if he can score 54 points like that, it’s scary to think where he’ll be at by the end of the season.