Josh Giddey knew right away that his shot was on target. Almost instantly, his teammates rushed to celebrate with him.
Giddey’s buzzer-beating halfcourt shot marked the thrilling end to one of the wildest finishes in the NBA this season, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 119-117 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
“Special moment to do it with these guys, this team,” Giddey said.
The Lakers, on the other hand, went from a dramatic win over Indiana, where LeBron James hit a buzzer-beating tip-in on Wednesday, to a tough loss. They also suffered another defeat to Chicago, having been beaten badly by the Bulls 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 were in control, leading by 13 points midway through the fourth quarter. They were ahead 115-110 after Austin Reaves made two free throws with 12.6 seconds left, but they still ended up losing for the eighth time in their last 12 games. The Lakers now have a day to recover before wrapping up their four-game trip in 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 hit 11 of 14 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including three in the final 10 seconds. Patrick Williams started the barrage with a 3-pointer.
Giddey then stole a pass from James and passed it to Coby White, who made a 3-pointer to give the Bulls a 116-115 lead with 6.1 seconds left.
Reaves responded by driving for a layup to give the Lakers a 117-116 lead with 3.3 seconds remaining, but the Bulls still had time to win.
Giddey inbounded the ball to Patrick Williams, got it back, and took a shot near the Bulls logo. He held his follow-through until the ball went through the net, securing the Bulls’ ninth win in 11 games and sparking a wild celebration.
Billy Donovan looks on in the 2nd half“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.”
A month ago, the Bulls seemed like a team with little energy. After trading Zach LaVine to Sacramento before the deadline, they were on a six-game losing streak, leaving them with a 22-35 record. Since then, they’ve gone 11-5, beating strong teams like the Lakers twice, Denver, and Indiana.
Giddey and White have been performing at a high level.
Giddey recorded his fifth triple-double on Thursday, finishing with 25 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists. The only Bulls player with more in a season was Michael Jordan, who had 15 in 1988-89.
White scored 26 points, adding to a stretch where he scored 35 or more points in three straight games, a career-high. The Bulls have shown resilience, never giving up. Coach Billy Donovan said that the players’ work ethic started back in September, during offseason workouts before 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.”
