DENVER – The offense remains All-Star caliber for Josh Giddey.
There is no disputing that.
The Bulls guard entered the showdown with the Nuggets fresh off his third triple-double of the season in Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Jazz and was first in that category for all NBA guards.
The only player in the entire Association with more triple-doubles than the Aussie? The mountain of a man that Giddey and the Bulls faced Monday in the Mile High, all 6-foot-11 of Nikola Jokic (now eight triple-doubles).
Not bad company, especially with Giddey and the Bulls (7-6) getting the 130-127 win over Jokic, ending a five-game losing streak. Giddey had 21 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
Not the only impressive climb in Giddey’s game, either.
It was almost a year ago today that Giddey was being pulled late in games because of his defensive breakdowns and opposing teams hunting him down. The same fingerprints found in the crime scene that cost him playing crucial playoff minutes in Oklahoma City months before they traded him to the Bulls.
Sure, there’s still blow-bys allowed by Giddey that frustrate Billy Donovan, and there are still opposing teams that have tried to hunt him down on that side of the floor, specifically a loss in Cleveland over a week ago. But there is also resistance being offered up by Giddey.
That’s an important component in his chase of becoming an All-Star.
“Probably similar to Coby (White) early in his career,” Donovan said of Giddey’s improvements on the defensive side. “Similar where (opposing teams) were really targeting him. As a player you have to kind of have to shut off that running water where (opposing coaches eventually) say, ‘OK, there’s no reason to try and exploit this because it’s not there.’ That comes down to the personal pride of one-on-one guarding.
“I think (Giddey’s) tried to do that. I do think that Josh has tried to get better. I’ve noticed and seen growth from him from last November to the time now. He’s taken much more pride in that area.”
A trend that needs to continue, and Giddey’s not alone.
Donovan and his staff witnessed 22 blow-bys in the double-overtime loss to Utah, and not just by elite talent, either.
Not only do the Bulls need to improve on that as a team but have to get over the hump of being taken apart by the opposing team’s best player, especially late in games. If there was one common concern in the five-game losing streak, it was bowing down to opposing stars late in games. That’s why Monday was so impressive. Jokic, and his 36 points, had every intention to do just that, but the Bulls finally turned a star away.
“It was good,” Donovan said of holding off Jokic and Denver. “We played together as a team. I do think collectively keeping ourselves in the game for 48 minutes, we were able to close the game out. I thought we closed better (Monday night).”
They needed to because it was a concerning issue the last 10 days.
It was Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Milwaukee loss, Donovan Mitchell a night later, followed by Victor Wembanyama. The Detroit loss was “an anomaly,” according to Giddey, but then Lauri Markkanen took the Bulls apart on Sunday on his way to 47 points.
“It’s been an issue for us where the main guys have gotten off in the fourth quarter and taken over games,” Giddey admitted. “We can’t leave that responsibility to one person. Every team is going to their best guy down the stretch.
“We can’t leave guys on an island to guard these guys because they’re too good, too big.”