Giddey's halfcourt shot gives Bulls a buzzer-beating win, a night after the Lakers had their own
Josh Giddey thought the ball was going in as soon as his buzzer-beating halfcourt heave left his fingertips
CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Giddey could feel it as soon as the ball left his fingertips. In a flash, teammates were mobbing him.
Giddey's buzzer-beating halfcourt heave capped what might be the wildest finish in the NBA this season and gave the surging Chicago Bulls a 119-117 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
“Special moment to do it with these guys, this team,” Giddey said.
The Lakers, meanwhile, went from winning at Indiana on a tip-in by LeBron James at the buzzer on Wednesday to losing in gut-wrenching fashion. They also took it on the chin again from Chicago after getting blown out in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“Devastation,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “It’s a hell of a way to lose a basketball game.”
The Lakers led by 13 midway through the fourth quarter and appeared to be in good shape up 115-110 after Austin Reaves made two free throws with 12.6 seconds remaining, only to lose for the eighth time in 12 games. They have a day to shake it off before closing out a four-game trip at Memphis.
“We put ourselves in position to win, gave up a lot of 3s in the fourth quarter, still put ourselves in position to win,” James said. “Horrible turnover by myself, miscommunication the play before that. AR tried to save us. Tip your hats."
The Bulls made 11 of 14 3-pointers in the fourth. They nailed three in the final 10 seconds, starting with one by Patrick Williams.
Giddey then stole a pass from James and fed Coby White for a 3 to put the Bulls on top with 6.1 seconds remaining.
Reaves drove for a layup to give the Lakers a 117-116 lead with 3.3 seconds left, Chicago had just enough time to pull out the win.
Giddey inbounded to Patrick Williams, got the ball back and pulled up near the Bulls logo. He held his follow-through right until the shot fell through the net, giving the Bulls their ninth win in 11 games and setting off one wild celebration.
“We’ve shown over the last month to six weeks that we can beat anybody,” Giddey said. “The way we play the game, I think it wears people down. We get up and down. We run. We put heat on them to get back. A lot of veteran teams don’t particularly want to get back and play in transition.”
The Bulls looked like a lifeless team a month ago. They traded Zach LaVine to Sacramento prior to the deadline and seemed to be packing it in after six straight losses left them with a 22-35 record. They're 11-5 since then, and they haven't just been picking on weak teams. They've beaten the Lakers twice and Denver in the past three games and also have a win over Indiana during this stretch.
Giddey and White have been at their best lately.
Giddey delivered his fifth triple-double on Thursday with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. The only Bulls player with more in a season was Michael Jordan with 15 in 1988-89.
White finished with 26 points after scoring 35 or more in a career-high three straight games, and the Bulls simply didn't quit. Coach Billy Donovan said that took hold in September, during the players' workouts at the team's facility prior to the start of training camp.
“We've got to be in great shape to play this way,” he said. “They've got to push themselves. I think a lot of that stemmed before training camp started, when they all came back in September. They played most of their pickup games with a 14-second shot clock just to kind of get that mentality down. We tried to go through training camp like that. I think there's advantages by really trying to play in a way that forces these guys to be in great shape.” ___
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