Australian teen star Josh Giddey enjoyed a career-high in assists today as Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 102-99.
Giddey tied his career-high of 19 points, while also notching 11 assists – the most he’s ever produced in a single NBA game. He also added five rebounds and one steal.
Despite falling two points short of a maiden NBA triple-double on the weekend, the 19-year-old’s stat-stuffing performance against the Grizzlies meant he became just the second teenager in NBA history to produce at least 20 rebounds and 20 assists across a two-game span.
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Giddey, who last year played for the Adelaide 36ers, joined former NBL star turned NBA superstar LaMelo Ball as the only two teenagers to achieve that honour.
Giddey’s playmaking ability proved crucial late in the match when things got tight, and it didn’t go unnoticed with Thunder coach Mark Daigneault lauding the Australian.
“If anyone Australian has the ball on an inbounds pass you should cut hard,” he told reporters after the match.
“That’s a luxury when you’ve got a guy like him. Just his vision, his anticipation, the way he scans the court.
“It starts before he gets the ball. The minute we have an inbound, he knows he’s the guy.”
While Giddey was quick to jump on social media and enjoy the Thunder’s victory, so were a number of NBA pundits who all praised his performance.
https://twitter.com/joshgiddey/status/1473150708186767365https://twitter.com/Rylan_Stiles/status/1473131552997580800https://twitter.com/Eddie_Rado/status/1473131679426437122https://twitter.com/CrainNBA/status/1473133313871257603https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1473136139829719044
The Grizzlies led 50-47 at halftime.
Oklahoma City surged ahead 69-60 late in the third quarter as Luguentz Dort recovered from 1-for-9 shooting in the first half. Dort made three three-pointers in the quarter, and the Thunder briefly led by 10 points before ending the period with a 74-72 advantage.
The Thunder overcame an 89-84 deficit in the final 4:36 and took the lead for good at 96-95 on Giddey’s layup with 50 seconds remaining.
The last time these teams met, the Grizzlies set an NBA record for margin of victory in a 152-79 thrashing. In the Dec 3 game — also at FedExForum — Memphis established franchise records for bench points (93) and field goals made (60).
– with AP
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