It was elation and later heartbreak for Josh Giddey as a career-high 31 points was not enough for the Oklahoma City in a 137-134 defeat to Charlotte in a seesawing thriller on Wednesday.
With the Thunder just a half-game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the final two Western Conference play-in spots, every game down the stretch of the season is particularly important.
Although Charlotte has been in fine form as of late, most recently taking down the Mavericks in back-to-back games to do Oklahoma City a big favour.
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But with guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sidelined for Wednesday’s game with a left ankle sprain, the Thunder needed Giddey to help fill the void left by his star running mate.
The Australian did just that, erupting for 31 points — passing his previous career-high mark of 28 — to go with 10 rebounds and nine assists while shooting 14-for-22 from the floor.
Giddey brought up the milestone when he drove right through a clear lane to the bucket to dunk it home.
But there was late heartbreak for Giddey, who missed what would have been a game-tying free throw to likely send the contest to overtime.
Giddey had plenty of help too, with Isaiah Joe (33) breaking his career high while impressive rookie Jalen Williams (31) came close to doing the same.
Meanwhile, P.J. Washington led the way with 43 points for a Hornets team that has now won four of their past five games despite being anchored to 14th spot in the Eastern Conference.
