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Aussies Abroad: Giddey stars in NBA win

Thursday, October 31, 2024
Powered by star recruit Josh Giddey (20 points, 11 rebounds, five assists), the Bulls stormed their way to victory.
Boomers star Josh Giddey has produced a match-winning double-double as his Chicago Bulls overcame a 20-point deficit for the second consecutive game to beat Orlando 102-99.
Just two days after overcoming a huge deficit in a 126-123 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Chicago were again in trouble on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT) when they trailed Orlando 48-28 early in the second quarter.
But powered by star recruit Giddey (20 points, 11 rebounds, five assists), the Bulls stormed their way to victory in front of a heaving home crowd.
With three seconds remaining and Chicago clinging to a two-point lead, Orlando's Jalen Suggs missed a fadeway jumper from near the free-throw line.
The rebound was then tipped down to Giddey who was immediately fouled.
Giddey missed his first free-throw before nailing the second, making it a three-point game with just 0.1 seconds left on the clock.
Under long-standing NBA rules, there needs to be at least 0.3 seconds remaining for a catch-and-shoot shot to count.
Orlando's inbound pass found its way to guard Paolo Banchero, who jumped in the air and nailed his miracle long bomb from near the half-way line.
Although the pro-Chicago crowd were initially stunned into silence, the referees quickly waved away the shot and awarded victory to Chicago.
Giddey praised his team's resilience after the match.
"We've found ourselves in a few holes the last couple of games," Giddey told ESPN.
"But to regroup at halftime, come out in that third quarter the way we did, fight all the way back from a 20-point deficit shows the character of this group.
"Six guys in double figures shows how many weapons we have. It can be different guys on different nights who get hot, and you saw that tonight.
"We've got a deep team, that bench was unbelievable tonight. It was complete team effort."
Banchero finished with 31 points for Orlando just two days after scoring a career-high 50 against the Pacers.
Giddey nailed all four of his three-point attempts in an impressive display.
"It's feeling good," he said of his long-range shooting.
"There's a lot of work in the summer that goes into it.
"Just being confident, trusting it, and letting it fly with confidence is the big thing for me."
Fellow Australian Ben Simmons tallied eight points, five rebounds and three assists from 24 minutes of court time as his Brooklyn Nets defeated Memphis 119-106.
Dennis Schroder scored 33 points to go with eight assists for the Nets, while Cam Thomas added 19 points.
Australian Josh Green scored nine points on three-of-four shooting from long range as his Charlotte Hornets beat Toronto 138-133.
Elsewhere, LeBron James's son Bronny scored his first NBA points during the LA Lakers' 134-110 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland.
Bronny entered the game with a little more than five minutes remaining, and he nailed a 14-foot shot from the left corner with two minutes remaining and with his dad already resting on the bench.
Lebron scored 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
In Indianapolis, Pascal Siakam (29 points) nailed the match-winning three-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in overtime to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 135-132 victory over the previously unbeaten Boston Celtics.
Boston, who came back from 19 points down in the final quarter to force overtime, were led by Jayson Tatum (37 points) and Jaylen Brown (25 points).
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 44 points to go with 13 rebounds as the New York Knicks beat Miami Heat 116-107, Detroit defeated Philadelphia 105-95, and Oklahoma City beat San Antonio 105-93.
Australian Dyson Daniels missed Atlanta's 133-120 loss to Washington with a hip injury.