Josh Giddey narrowly missed a triple-double as his Chicago Bulls outlasted Dyson Daniels’ Atlanta Hawks 152-150 in the highest-scoring game this NBA season.
Monday’s thriller (all time AEDT) between the two Australian stars in Atlanta went down to the wire, with Chicago holding on after Trae Young missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer.
Giddey finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists and scored three points to lead Chicago to its third straight victory – its biggest winning streak this season since a 5-0 start – as the 13-15 Bulls returned to .500.
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All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, including Matas Buzelis posting a season-high 28 on an ultra-efficient 10-of-11 shooting display with a career-high seven triples.
It was a record for points and assists (41) for the Bulls, including nine players scoring in double figures for just the fourth time in franchise history, arguably their best offensive performance under Billy Donovan.
But Giddey admitted they needed to tighten up on the defensive end.
“It was probably (our best offensive game as a team). Probably our worst defensive (match) as well,” the Australian said after the match.
“By scoring 150, you’re going to win most nights, (but) they also scored 150!
“It was one of those nights, both teams played extremely fast on the court. We’ll watch film and see what we need to improve on.
“But offensively, when we have nine guys in double figures, that’s kind of a recipe for us to win games.”
Like Giddey, Daniels also flirted with what could have been his first career triple-double, recording eight points, nine rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
Jalen Johnson produced another dominant performance with 36 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and Young scored 35 points with seven threes and nine assists in his second game back from a knee injury that sidelined him for 22 games.
But it wasn’t enough as the Hawks suffered a third straight loss to fall to 15-15 overall as their season dwindled, with just two wins in their last nine games.
After the fourth quarter was tight, Giddey made a big three to give Chicago a handy 146-142 buffer with 1:11 to play.
Coby White split a pair of free throws to increase the Bulls’ lead to 149-142 with 48 seconds on the clock.
Atlanta responded with three straight points down the stretch thanks to Young and then Johnson to get within one point at 151-150 with 5.9 seconds left. Buzelis split a pair of free throws on the other end to give the Hawks a chance to force overtime or win the game with a triple.
But Young missed a 16-foot pull-up floater in the final seconds after trying to foul Tre Jones and Giddey, before lashing out at the referees afterward.
“If he had gone up and shot the ball normally, he probably would have had a better chance of making it. But he was trying to sell a foul,” Chicago commentator Stacy King said.
“And the referee didn’t give it to him.”
Another caller, Connor Onion, added: “It felt like it was just that it wasn’t called.” »
Giddey said of the final play: “We knew they were going to go to Trae, Trae or Jalen. We talked about how we were going to cover him in the timeout. Tre and I got together with the bigs and we ran it.
“He tried to draw and foul and I tried to stay away from him and make him take a tough shot. Hat off if he makes a floater that goes away from the rim 17 feet away.
“I’m happy we were able to stop and close out this game.”
The two teams will face off again on Wednesday in Atlanta.
