Josh Giddey just missed out on a triple-double as his Chicago Bulls outlasted Dyson Daniels’ Atlanta Hawks 152-150 in the highest-scoring game this NBA season.
Monday’s high-scoring thriller (all times AEDT) between the two Aussie star went down to the wire, with Chicago holding on after Trae Young missed a potential game-tying shot on the buzzer.
Giddey finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists and hit a clutch 3-pointer to lead Chicago to its third-straight win — its biggest winning streak this season since a 5-0 start — as the 13-15 Bulls creep back towards .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-best seven triples.
It marked season-highs points and assists (41) for the Bulls including nine players scoring in double figures for just the fourth time in franchise history in arguably their best offensive performance under Billy Donovan.
But Giddey conceded they needed to tighten up on the defensive end.
“It probably was (our best offensive game as a team). Probably our worst defensive (game) as well,” the Aussie said post-match.
“Scoring 150, you’re going to win most nights, (but) they scored 150 as well!
“It was one of those nights, both teams played extremely fast up and down the floor. We’ll watch film and see what we need to get better at.
“But offensively when we have nine guys in double figures, that’s kind of the recipe for us how to win games.”
Like Giddey, Daniels also flirted with what could’ve been his first career triple-double, registering 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 put up 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 dwindles, with just two wins from their last nine contests.
After it was tight down the stretch of the fourth quarter, Giddey nailed an important clutch three to give Chicago a handy 146-142 buffer with 1:11 remaining.
Coby White split a pair of free throws to take the Bulls lead to 149-142 with 48 seconds on the clock.
Atlanta hit back-to-back threes down the stretch through Young then Johnson to get back within a point at 151-150 with 5.9 seconds to play. Buzelis split a pair of free throws at 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 dying seconds after trying to draw a foul on Tre Jones and Giddey, before going at the refs afterwards.
“Had he went up and shot the ball normally, he probably had a better chance to make it. But he was trying to sell a foul,” Chicago commentator Stacy King said.
“And the referee didn’t give it to him.”
Fellow caller Connor Onion added: “It felt like justice that it didn’t get 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 it in the timeout. Me and Tre came together with the big and we ran it.
“He tried to draw and foul and I tried to stay away from him and make him make a tough shot. Tip your hat if he makes a running floater fading away from the rim from 17 feet.
“I’m glad we were able to get the stop and close this game out.”
The two teams will rematch again in Atlanta on Wednesday.
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