Josh Giddey calls game on incredible half-court game-winner to defeat Lakers at the buzzer

It being Josh Giddey’s Miracle on Madison Street half-court game-winner as the final buzzer was tolling Thursday for LeBron, Luka and the Los Angeles Lakers in the most improbable and fantastic of finishes for a 119-117 Bulls win.

The stunning no-he-didn’t official 47-footer as the Bulls inbounded without a timeout after a Lakers go-ahead layup score with 3.3 seconds left capped a furious last 10.3 seconds in which Patrick Williams, Coby White and Giddey made threes, and Giddey stole a low-IQ inbounds pass from LeBron James that enabled the Bulls’ 18-point fourth quarter comeback and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after trailing 115-110 with 12.6 seconds left.

White did it again for the Cardiac Bulls with 15 fourth quarter points with 4-of-5 threes for his team-high 26 points, the Bulls making 11-of-14 fourth quarter threes to 1-of-9 for the Lakers. Giddey’s first ever NBA buzzer game-winner after which he was mobbed by his teammates in a group-hug festival that carried into the stands to celebrate with slack-jawed, ecstatic Bulls fans was, according to the Bulls, the longest such game-winner in franchise history since such statistics were kept starting in 1996-97 and second longest in the NBA this season.

Giddey finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his fifth triple-double of the season, second most in franchise history, and as impressively for the team the second victory over the star-laden Luka Dončić, LeBron James Lakers in less than a week. The late night ESPN highlight show likes to start with The Best Thing I Saw Today. This game, and especially the amazing ending — the word unbelievable is maybe the most overused in sports broadcasting, but this time it does apply — had to be the best thing anyone saw in the NBA this season, the Bulls with 44 fourth quarter points to overtake a supposed Lakers elite defense, 16 points in the last 2:13 that also included Nikola Vučević and Kevin Huerter threes. And perhaps even sweeter for the haters, or maybe the critics, it was the king James getting defrocked with mistake play of the game, his lazy inbounds bounce pass turnover with the Lakers leading 115-113 with 7.8 seconds left. Which Giddey easily swiped and passed to Coby for the three with 6.1 seconds left. You know that GOAT debate that is so annoyingly prevalent. LeBron gets to be the goat for this one.

And then Giddey finished it off right in front of the Lakers bench. Do you believe in more miracles, Al Michaels?

“We could thrown in the towel any point in that fourth quarter, but we stuck with it and it was a fun game to be a part of,” said Giddey. “We’re down five with 12 seconds, people leaving the stands, game over. Pat (Williams) hits that three, we get a steal and we are right back there. I didn’t know if Pat was going to give it back to me (on the last three seconds). I was expecting him to go, but he threw it back and the defense kept backing up, backing up. I wasn’t able to get closer, so I just pulled up from wherever I did and tried to let it go as best I could, and the rest was history.

“It was a special moment,” Giddey offered somewhat casually as if these things happen. “Probably not another place I’d want to do it, at home, in front of the crowd we had tonight. As soon as it left my fingertips it looks good. That’s kind of why I held my follow through the whole time. I had that feeling when it left. It looked straight, felt good, great comeback win. You kind of black out in those types of moments (with teammates jumping all over you). We ended up in the corner, in the crowd; special moment. As I said, tonight was a total team effort,  a fun moment.”

The Shot in Bulls lore is Michael Jordan’s iconic foul line jumper with three seconds remaining to eliminate the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round of the 1989 Eastern Conference playoffs in a similarly fabulous finish with six lead changes in the last minute. Omen, perhaps? The Bulls inbounded with just more than three seconds remaining Thursday, and if the Bulls make it through the play-in tournament their first round playoff opponent could be the heavily favored Cavaliers.

Not again, Cleveland!

The Bulls win and Giddey’s winner certainly wasn’t as significant as Jordan’s The Shot, the Bulls still ninth place in the Eastern Conference and seven games below .500 at 33-40. But life and basketball are all about timing, and the Bulls are now one of the hottest teams in the league with four straight wins and nine of their last 11.

The relevance of Jordan’s 1989 The Shot was imminently about winning a playoff series. But the magnitude was that it effectively announced the Bulls with just two first round playoff series wins in franchise history to the league and a practical starting point for the Bulls climb to championships. The Bulls went from that series winner to a sixth game defeat in the 1989 Eastern Conference finals against the eventual champion Detroit Pistons.

So maybe that’s putting the shot ahead of the horses. But maybe the Bulls will once again look back at that gloomy and drizzly March evening and that play and that shot as the start of sunny days that many doubted.

“Definitely the funnest, definitely the most entertaining, definitely a big win,” said White. “The probability of us winning that game was probably very low. But we defied the odds. So it was a fun game to be a part of. That’s a game that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”

This wasn’t a game the Bulls were supposed to win. Even after their dismantling of the Lakers last week. These things are somewhat predictable in the NBA where retribution often transcends effort. This was to be payback for the Lakers, pushed around and frustrated at home, and Bulls coach Billy Donovan had seen these games before with this Bulls team, if not this group.

“The growth I’m most pleased about is we had a similar situation when we went into Boston and beat Boston and they came right back in here and beat us by 30,” Donovan recalled about a December back-to-back. “I can even go back to Game 2 of the Bucks (2022 playoff) series and we come back after winning Game 2 there and get blown away. Those teams raised their level of play and we were not able to get there. It’s encouraging to see. What happened in Los Angeles last week you knew they were going to come back and play really well and be physical, and they did. And they were disruptive to us. But I think our guys leaned into the competitive piece of it and fought all the way through.

“I’d been disappointed at times when we’d beaten a team and had to come back and have been totally dominated and haven’t been able to withstand the raising of that level of physicality,” said Donovan. “I respected the way they competed. Even when we got down 15, they didn’t let go of the rope; we kept coming.”

It wasn’t inevitable until late, however, after the Bulls jumped on the Lakers for a 24-11 first quarter lead and still 32-22 after the quarter. The Lakers then took the first lead 59-58 heading into halftime. Kevin Huerter, who had 21 points and 5-of-10 threes with three in the fourth quarter as probably the first true catch-and-shoot Bulls player of this era, has been annoying the Lakers. He threw Dončić out of the way on a rebound last week, provoking a Dončić technical. And Thursday after an exchange saw Dorian Finney-Smith chasing after him and pushing; no harm and none foul; he is the Red Mamba.

Then the Lakers turned up the fire even more as the Bulls still were hustling, beating Lakers to loose balls and 11-6 on the offensive boards. The Bulls have endured and succeeded, especially lately, with not only their fast break speed, but sharp decision making, quicker shots when open and frequent movement. But the officials were allowing more handsy contact, which is predictable with the post season approaching.

“It was a rough third quarter, but they stayed with it and keep competing and kept grinding,” said Donovan. “Give the Lakers credit; that had a lot to do with the way we played on offense (after halftime). I don’t think it was to the level we were playing on the West Coast, but we stayed with it and kept competing and competing and competing. And gave ourselves a chance, and obviously were fortunate to make some plays at the end.”

The Bulls couldn’t find a fast break score in the third quarter as the Lakers upped their pressure, contesting shots more closely. The Lakers edged ahead 91-75 after three quarters and still were ahead 97-81 with a little over nine minutes remaining.

“We just beat them on their home floor and they were looking to come out tonight and punch us and got up 15, 20 points,” noted Giddey. “We just kept the door ajar in the fourth and to win it the way we did, hell of a team  effort.”

It began innocently enough with a Huerter three. But then White with just 11 points through three quarters and shooting 4-of-14 took off the glasses and suit and pulled on the cape. He has been super like this leading the Bulls to an eighth victory this season after trailing by 15 points.

Twice in a row Player of the Week, he’s on target for Player of the Month if not, hey, as Derrick Rose would say, why can’t he be an MVP.

So Coby scored on a drive, and then the Lakers began to get careless and cautious. With White playing hair-on-fire — and you know that would be some conflagration — he ran into a three after a Lakers turnover, and then another as the Lakers seemed to be looking at the clock as much as the Bulls. Repeatedly, the Lakers ran down the shot clock only to be forced into a hurried late shot, giving the Bulls the appropriate aperture to put some light on their subject.

“It’s the belief we have in each other and the connectiveness we have on the court and off, and now we are starting to play from the identity that works for the personnel we have of playing fast, getting to the paint, playing more physical,” said White. “You add all those things together, you continue to grow and develop. The biggest thing for me is the connectiveness we have, how we interact with each other, the trust we have in each other, the belief. We continue to grow in that area.”

White got the Bulls within 97-92 with 7:28 left, the building modulating with Lakers fans as well reacting to each score. The Lakers tightened to extend back ahead by 10. But again came the Bulls within 105-100 with 3:55 left on Huerter’s three. Then Vučević’s three offset a Lakers basket following a Giddey turnover, and the Bulls were still there trailing 107-103 with 2:13 left.

That seemed like the last gasp, a good try but alas when Lakers center Jaxson Hayes scored on a layup and follow for a 111-104 Lakers lead with 1:28 left. But Giddey rammed his way along the baseline for a three-point play to further stir the Bulls, and it was the Lakers who seemed shaken.

Dončić and James combined for seven fourth quarter points, none in the last two minutes, while White and Giddey combined for 23 points in the fourth and outplayed the star twins again.

Huerter came flashing across the key for a 29-foot three to get the Bulls within one point with 46.1 seconds left. Austin Reaves, who took most of the big shots for the Lakers late and had 30 points, scored on a short jumper. And then it seemed over for the Bulls with 13.7 seconds left when Giddey lost control of a floater for a turnover that was called a miss.

So Lakers by three with the ball and 12.6 seconds left. The Bulls have to foul, and Reaves makes two. As they like to say on TV, two possession game at 115-110 Lakers.

The Bulls run an inbounds play to get a corner three from, you’ll never guess, Williams. Who doesn’t even play much late, but was in to match with the taller Lakers and had a big shot and the crucial pass to Giddey. Williams made the clutch three; 115-113 with 10.3 seconds left.

“Pat hit a big shot from the corner very nonchalantly. That’s what he does,” said White.

Then came Giddey’s first great moment. Against James, no less.

“I knew we were going to go for a steal before we’d (have to) foul and he kind of just bounced it,” said Giddey. “I was surprised at how easy I was able to grab it. I was going to go to the rim, but Coby was wide open at the three-point line and had a hit a couple, so give it to him.”

White’s run of big time threes continued with the 26-footer with 6.1 seconds left, and the Bulls were ahead 116-115! What the heck?

“I’d say the last 12 seconds was crazy,” agreed Donovan.  “We just kind of kept hanging in there and from Patrick’s three to Josh’s steal to Coby’s three to Reaves makes a layup, and Josh throws in a half court shot. That all took place in 12 seconds; you’re not normally going to see that.”

Maybe never again.

Despite having LeBron and Luka, the Lakers then went to Reaves. And he seemed to save it for them, wiggling in for a layup, a one-point Lakers lead with 3.3 seconds remaining. Bulls with no timeouts left. Have to go full court and heave one.

“Josh ‘Big Sauce’ Giddey,” said White. “It was good trajectory. In those moments, the time kind of stops and seems like it goes in slow motion. A lot of guys said when it left his hand it looked good. He shot it like a jump shot, he didn’t throw it. It was more like a jump shot with arc and it went in. So, yeah man.”

Nah, sorry, it wasn’t just one of 82.

“We’ve shown over the past month, six weeks we can compete with anybody,” said Giddey. “It’s just the way we play the game. I think it wears teams down. We get up and down, we run, we put heat on teams to get back. A lot of veteran teams, they don’t typically want to get back and play in transition. We understand our game plan and identity, and we are a tough team to beat and we’ve shown that over the last however long. Obviously, we are rolling now. It’s obviously the right time to get hot. We are starting to connect as a team, starting to get wins by committee, and it’s not a one-man show on this roster. So it’s a special group to be a part of.”

Those words spoken so often this season about the talent and ability to match anyone seemed somewhat hollow. Not so much anymore.

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