Josh Giddey is blossoming before the eyes of the NBA world.
The Aussie has led the OKC Thunder brilliantly in Monday’s road clash against the Brooklyn Nets (all times AEDT), on triple-double watch with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists at the end of the third quarter
It included Giddey making two tough drives to the hoop in the third – signalling a ‘too small’ gesture to Nets big man Nic Claxton on the first and converting an and-one play on the second.
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Despite Giddey’s strong play, OKC trails the Nets 80-75, with Claxton putting in his own strong performance with 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks and Seth Curry leading the team in scoring with 15 points off the bench.
Gilgeous-Alexander leads all scorers with 21.
Giddey was set to face off with fellow Aussie Ben Simmons for the first time ever in the contest, however back soreness forced Simmons to be a late out for the game in a brutal blow for a Nets team trying to navigate through a stretch without Kevin Durant due to an MCL injury.
Of course, Simmons missed all of last season – Giddey’s rookie campaign – during his trade standoff with the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded to Brooklyn. He sat out the rest of the season due to back soreness that required surgery.
WHAT A PASS! Simmons stunning assists | 01:37
Without Durant and now Simmons, the Nets are looking to bounce back from a loss to Boston Friday, but remain second in the East at 27-14.
OKC is meanwhile on a hot streak with four wins from its last five games to improve to 20-23 and soar in the West standings on the brink of the play-in tournament.
Giddey has been on a tear over that stretch and the weeks prior to. Since December 1, he’s averaged 17.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists and shot 50 per cent from the field, 42 per cent from downtown on 3.4 attempts and 94 per cent from the line, per Thunder beat writer Derek Parker.
MORE TO COME
WARRIORS FALL TO 4-17 ON THE ROAD1-10 against Eastern
The Golden Warriors’ road woes continue to hurt them, this time falling to the Bulls in Chicago 132-118.
With it, Steve Kerr’s side fell to 4-17 in away games overall including 1-10 against Eastern Conference sides.
It’s clearly been a major hurdle in the 21-22 team’s season, currently occupying the West’s eighth seed and boosted by the returns of Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins last week.
But even Golden State was just slightly below average on the road, it’d be in striking distance of the West’s No. 1 seed amid the evenness of the conference.
Playing without DeMar DeRozan (quad), Nikola Vucevic exploded for the Bulls with 43 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Zach LaVine added 27 points, nine boards and six dimes.
Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 20-14 overall.
Klay Thompson dropped eight triples en route to 26 points to pace the Warriors and Curry posted 20 points and 10 rebounds
ALL RESULTS
KNICKS 117 PISTONS 104
ROCKETS 100 CLIPPERS 121
WARRIORS 118 BULLS 132
THUNDER – NETS
KINGS – SPURS
MAGIC – NUGGETS
MAVERICKS – TRAIL BLAZERS
