Josh Giddey has continued his surge with another big performance in the OKC Thunder’s 124-110 road win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday (all times AEDT).
Giddey matched an equal-season high 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting and also racked up 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks – marking his 16th double-double of the season – and was a +18 in one of his best NBA games yet.
The Aussie has now scored 20-plus points in seven of his last 11 games including two in a row.
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It went a long way in the Thunder taking down the Bulls for their fourth win from their last five games to improve to 20-23 overall on the campaign.
As Giddey explained post-match, playing with more physicality and attacking the rim has been a big focus of his.
“I’m starting to realise – I’m a pretty big guy. I’m trying to get in the lane and use my size a little bit more. I settled for a lot of floaters early on,” the 20-year old admitted.
“Just trying to make an emphasis on getting downhill, getting to the rim and trying to get to the free throw line a little bit more.
“Doing what I can to help our team win.”
Elsewhere, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 21 points, five rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks and Jalen Williams added 22 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
For the DeMar DeRozan-less Bulls, Zach LaVine led the way with 25 points including shooting 14-of-15 from the free throw line, plus six rebounds and five assists.
Nikola Vucevic (19 points, 11 boards) and Pat Williams (18 points) also chipped in big games for Chicago.
The Thunder were in control for most of the contest, and despite a Bulls rally in the third, Mark Daigneault’s team ran away with the win after outscoring the hosts 33-20 in the final stanza.
OKC shot a red-hot 51 per cent from the field in the match, with Giddey’s efficient scoring performance contributing in a big way.
The Aussie earlier this week recorded his sixth career-triple double against the Heat and became the fourth player in NBA history to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 500 assists in his first 100 games