Josh Giddey and the Chicago Bulls’ slump continued in brutal fashion on Sunday (all times AEDT).
The Bulls lost to the lowly-ranked Pacers 103-101 on a Pascal Siakam game winner in Indiana after a crucial Giddey bucket got overturned.
It marked a third-straight loss for Chicago — including just three wins from its last 12 games — after a 5-0 start to the season.
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It’s seen the Bulls fall below .500 for the first time this season at 9-10 overall, with concerning losses to New Orleans, Charlotte and Indiana in their last three games.
The Bulls trailed for the majority of the contest in a low-scoring affair but never let the deficit get out of reach.
A Kevin Huerter floater tied up the scores at 86-86 with 9:31 left in the fourth term to set up a close finish.
Chicago then went on a run, with a Nikola Vucevic jumper extending the visitors’ lead to 97-90 with 4:51 remaining. But Indiana hit back with an 8-0 run to regain the advantage with over two minutes on the clock.
A Giddey drive to the bucket was initially called a goaltend on Jay Huff and would’ve given the Bulls an important three-point buffer with 1:28 to play.
But a review overturned the call to a block and instead meant Chicago’s lead was just 99-98.
Enter Siakam. The Pacers star gave his side back the lead on a post-up play on Giddey.
Huff came up big yet again on the defensive end for Indiana in the last 30 seconds with two more swats on Huerter and Vucevic.
Andrew Nembhard split a pair of free throws and Tre Jones’ driving layup — this time an illegal goaltend from Huff — brought it back to a 101-101 game with 7.5 remaining.
But Siakam would bury a deep, game-winning jump shot with 1.1 on the clock and two Bulls defenders on him to clinch Indiana’s fourth win of the season from 20 games.
Siakam’s 24 led all scorers, while Giddey put up 17 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Giddey assisted on fellow Aussie Lachlan Olbrich’s first NBA points in an easy layup under the basket.
Olbrich had two points, three rebounds and was a +11 in 11 minutes in his first NBA game.
The 21-year old centre from South Australia, who won an NBL championship with the Illawarra Hawks last season, was drafted with the 55th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
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