Australia’s Josh Giddey turned the primary participant in NBA historical past to report a triple-double in every of his first three video games on the hallowed Madison Sq. Backyard as his late-season surge continued Monday.
Giddey tallied 16 factors, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in 31 minutes for his Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in a rollercoaster 113-112 win over the New York Knicks on the well-known venue.
Down by ten factors after three quarters, a surge to open the ultimate quarter took the Thunder previous the Knicks and up by as many as eight factors.
The pair traded the lead again and again with the sport happening to the wire, just for Giddey to ice the sport with an inbound help for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to attain with 2.1 seconds remaining.
New York’s Jalen Brunson – who had put the Knicks within the lead with 4.1 to go was controversially denied a foul on that shot – threw up a possible game-winner because the clock ticked down nevertheless it bounced brief off the rim.
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The win means the Thunder transfer solo high of the Western Convention with a 52-22 report and safe their berth within the playoffs, returning to the NBA post-season after a three-year absence.
Giddey’s tenth profession triple double additionally makes him simply the second OKC participant to achieve that mark, behind Russell Westbrook’s 138.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returned for the Thunder after a quad contusion noticed him dominated out of their final two video games, and managed 19 factors on 7-of-16 capturing, whereas Jalen Williams led the way in which with 33 factors on environment friendly 14-of-18 capturing to go together with 8 assists.
Talking of his teammates, Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned: “It received us the sport. Clearly I didn’t have my greatest night time however that’s what the staff is for. They’ve had my again all season, that they had my again once more tonight.
We simply got here in right here and did our job, everybody caught to the script and we received our W.”
Jalen Brunson had 30 factors and seven assists for the Knicks, whereas Miles McBride had 19 and Isaiah Hartenson 17 to go together with 15 rebounds.
However the Knicks shot simply 41.3% from the ground and 30.2% from deep.
Because the NBA All-Star break, Giddey has stepped up in a giant manner for the Thunder.
‘How?! How did he do this?!’ | 00:35
In 53 video games earlier than the break, Giddey averaged 11.5 factors, 6.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per recreation whereas capturing 44.7% from the ground and 32.5% from past the arc – nicely beneath his averages from his first two seasons.
That was largely attributable to struggling to suit into a brand new function as an offensive contributor relatively than chief playmaker.
However since then, he’s improved throughout the board – igniting a late-season spark for the Thunder.
And in his final 5 video games particularly, he’s averaged 22.8 factors, 9.0 rebounds, and seven.2 rebounds a recreation, capturing 63.9% from the ground and 52.2% from three-point vary.