Aussie rookie’s magic moment; Wemby erupts in historic 50-point statement: NBA Wrap

Welcome to the NBA, Johnny Furphy.

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While the Australian rookie had seen playing time prior to Thursday’s match-up against the Magic, he had only managed 13 minutes in total through three games and two of them had been a blowout.

This time around Furphy got an extended look at the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. He made an immediate impact too.

To start with, Furphy forced Jalen Suggs into a turnover which he quickly turned into a fastbreak dunk on the other end for his first points in the NBA.

Furphy then added another bucket early in the second quarter before finishing through contact for the and-1 which brought his tally up to seven points in just six minutes.

Furphy didn’t get back into the game until the start of the fourth quarter but only lasted a few minutes before being substituted out with what appeared to be a hand injury.

“He’s a very good player off movement,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Furphy post-game.

“He’s a great runner. He’s got size, he’s deceptively tough. He gave us some really good minutes in the first half and then at the beginning of the fourth quarter he got hit in the finger and was bleeding and that was bothering him.

“So, that was a tough stretch but you can see why we’re excited about him in the future and really right now too. That’s a pretty high culture game and he went in and played well.”

The Pacers, meanwhile, led 72-68 at the end of the third quarter but the Magic opened the fourth on a 10-0 run to prompt Indiana to bring Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner back into the game.

Unfortunately for Indiana, it did little to stop Orlando from extending its lead out to 12 points entering the final four minutes of the game as turnovers started to really hurt the Pacers.

Indiana was able to rally late to get within two points of the Magic but had to play the foul game with only 11 seconds left and ran out of time, falling 94-90 in the end.

With the win, built on the back of their suffocating defence in the fourth, the Magic improved to 6-0 at home and a 7-6 record overall while the Pacers dropped to 5-6.

GIANNIS EXPLODES FOR 59 POINTS AS BUCKS ESCAPE WITH OT WIN

Well, that was definitely a win that the Milwaukee Bucks needed to have.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 59 points — the most of any player this season — to go with 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and three blocks in a 127-120 win over the Detroit Pistons.

It could have very easily been a different story though, with Antetokounmpo ruled to have fouled Ron Holland in the final second of regulation, sending the Pistons rookie to the free throw line.

Holland just had to make one of the two attempts to seal the win for Detroit, with the score locked at 111-111 at that point while the Bucks didn’t have a timeout left.

But he missed both, sending the game to overtime and Antetokounmpo did the rest, finishing the period with 11 points, a rebound, assist and block.

It capped off what was the Greek superstar’s best game of the year, with Antetokounmpo scoring 22 of Milwaukee’s 24 points in the first quarter.

And yet, the Bucks still trailed 27-24 and looked destined to waste yet another masterful Antetokounmpo performance before the two-time MVP put them on their back in overtime.

“I’m just proud of my teammates,” Antetokounmpo said after the game as MVP chants rang out.

“They never stopped playing hard. They kept moving the ball, especially in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, they started getting stops.

“They were rebounding the ball, they were playing hard. For me, as long as we play that way we always have a chance to win the game.”

Antetokounmpo has been the subject of trade rumours amid Milwaukee’s rough start to the season, with Thursday’s win marking just their fourth of the season.

But it is clear, at least publicly, that Antetokounmpo is committed to helping the team turn around its fortunes.

“At the end of the day nobody says it’s going to be easy,” Antetokounmpo added.

“I remember the year we won the championship, we didn’t start the season very well but at the end of the day we never gave up. It doesn’t matter who plays… we never give up.

“As a leader I keep reminding guys, don’t take moments for granted. Never take moments granted. When guys don’t play and your number is called, go out there and give everything you have for the team… no matter who plays, we don’t give up.”

WEMBY PUTS ON A SHOW IN HISTORIC STATEMENT

Antetokounmpo wasn’t the only player hitting the half-century mark on Thursday, with Victor Wembanyama becoming the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points.

Wembanyama exploded for the career-high mark in the San Antonio Spurs’ 139-130 win over the Washington Wizards, shooting 18-for-29 from the field while draianing eight 3-pointers.

With it, Wembanyama also became the first Spurs player to finish a game with 50-plus points and more than five made 3-pointers.

On the other side of the floor Jordan Poole had an efficient 42 points, shooting 15-for-22 from the field and making six of nine 3-point attempts while only turning the ball over three times.

GIDDEY’S NO-LOOK STUNNER AS BULLS CHARGE AHEAD OF KNICKS

Elsewhere, Josh Giddey’s streak of three-straight triple-doubles at Madison Square Garden came to an end as the Chicago Bulls outlasted the New York Knicks 124-123 in a thriller.

The Bulls led by as many as 22 points in the third after a dominant showing from Zach LaVine, who dropped 14 straight-points in the final five minutes of the second quarter to put Chicago in a commanding position.

That was short-lived though as the Knicks rallied back to take a 105-102 lead entering the final seven minutes of the game after a monster Karl-Anthony Towns triple.

LaVine was once again heavily involved on both ends in Chicago’s late fourth quarter flurry as the Bulls went back ahead 112-107, but this was Towns’ night as the Knicks big man exploded for 46 points after going 6-for-12 from deep.

Unfortunately even that wasn’t enough for the Knicks, although it should have been given the position they found themselves in with 4.1 seconds left in Thursday’s game.

The Bulls had a chance to close the game out early after a Coby White 3-pointer put them up 119-115 with just over two minutes left, but a 6-0 New York run flipped the script as Chicago’s offence faltered down the stretch.

Jalen Brunson in particular came up big when the Knicks needed him most, making the driving layup that put New York up 123-121 with 4.1 seconds left, while his pick-and-roll with Towns continually proved tough to stop for Chicago.

But there was one final twist in Thursday’s seesawing game, with Josh Hart called for a foul on the Coby White 3-point attempt off the Giddey sideline out of bounds pass after the Australian initially looked to set up the lob for LaVine.

White made all three free throw attempts to give the Bulls the lead, although the Knicks still had one final timeout up their sleeve and were able to advance the ball and set up a good look for Brunson.

Unfortunately for the Knicks guard, the would-be buzzer beater rimmed out as the Bulls hung on despite Towns’ heroics.

It was Towns’ second 40-plus point performance of the season to go with 10 rebounds, three steals and three assists, and while it was a dominant statement from New York’s big offseason addition, there were plenty of strong contributions across the board.

Mikal Bridges (20 points) and Brunson (24 points) both passed the 20-point mark while Cameron Payne made all three of his 3-point attempts to chip in with 11 points off the bench.

The Bulls led Thursday’s game 29-22 after a strong opening quarter from Patrick Williams, who had 11 points, while Nikola Vucevic chipped in with six points and just as many rebounds.

Giddey, meanwhile, was scoreless in the first quarter but had a steal, rebound and three assists — with one of them coming on an absurd no-look pass to LaVine for a corner 3-pointer.

“What vision from Josh Giddey,” Stacey King said in commentary, while Adam Amin described it as a “nifty” pass from the Australian guard.

It was then the LaVine show for the Bulls in the second quarter, with the star guard going on a scoring tear to put Chicago ahead 59-47 at halftime before the Knicks finished strong.

ELSEWHERE…

In other news, three contenders got the job done as the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder picked up wins.

The Celtics made a slow start against the Brooklyn Nets, who were without Ben Simmons (calf injury), and trailed 14-5 early but stormed home to take a comfortable 139-114 win.

Jaylen Brown (24) and Jayson Tatum (36) combined for 60 points in the win while Payton Pritchard made five 3-pointers off the bench on his way to 23 points to go with eight assists and six rebounds.

Cleveland, meanwhile, improved to 13-0 against a plucky Philadelphia team that refused to go away despite being without Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey.

Rookie Jared McCain continues to step up in a big way, scoring 34 points to go with 10 assists in the loss. He has now scored 20-plus points in three consecutive games.

The 76ers led 54-48 at halftime but the Cavaliers responded with a quick run to open the third, leading by as many as eight points and threatening to run away with it.

But Philadelphia held firm and was within five points of Cleveland entering the final minute of the game before five quick points from Donovan Mitchell helped seal a 114-106 win.

Elsewhere, Oklahoma City breezed to a 106-88 win over the New Orleans Pelicans with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (29) and Jalen Williams (31) leading the way.

It was a standout game on both ends from Williams, who also had six rebounds, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.

“That guy was everywhere tonight,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said post-game.

“Literally everywhere.”

OTHER RESULTS

Los Angeles Clippers 103 defeated by Houston Rockets 111