The Chicago Bulls just had their best performance of the 2024-25 campaign. From start to finish, they dominated the Brooklyn Nets with an ending score of 128-102. Several players had outings to remember, including rookie Matas Buzelis's career-high 20-point night on 7-of-10 from the field, Nikola Vucevic's team-leading 21-point night to go with ten rebounds, Julian Philips's first career starting nod, and Josh Giddey's best game with his new squad. How did the numbers look for Giddey, and can he give that contribution consistently?
First Triple-Double For Chicago
Giddey's 12th career triple-double, first since April 7th, 2024, against the Charlotte Hornets, marks his first with the Bulls. This is the first triple-double by a Bulls player since Vucevic posted a 19-point, 18-rebound, 10-assist game on January 6th, 2023, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Giddey tallied 20 points, 11 assists, and 13 rebounds to fill the stat sheet. His five turnovers and 1-for-8 from three-point land leave room for improvement, but he still shot over 50% from the field and helped aid many of his teammates to an efficient night of scoring.
Giddey hits his first triple-double as a Bull 👏 pic.twitter.com/f94Odq5m68
— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) December 3, 2024
The Bulls haven't had a player consistently push triple-double numbers; their franchise leader is Michael Jordan, with 28. If Giddey secures a second one this year, he'll be in the top 15 in the organization's history in career triple-doubles. If he inks an extension, ten games like tonight cement him in the top three of Chicago Bulls history in that category. At only 22 years old, he'll have plenty of opportunities to leave his mark in the record books.
Consistently Putting Up These Numbers
While seeing Giddey stack his first impressive outing in Chicago is promising for the fanbase, adding consistency to his output would provide a new layer of reassurance for the newly acquired point guard before locking him into a new contract this summer. He's got 11 triple-doubles through three seasons, averaging about three per season, so realistically, he'll repeat this performance a few times throughout the year. For the long haul, if Giddey can reduce his turnovers and improve his three-point efficiency, his chances of succeeding long-term for the Bulls will skyrocket.
Josh Giddey is the 4th youngest player in Bulls franchise history to record a triple-double. pic.twitter.com/HAwiMsiodk
— Real Sports (@realapp_) December 3, 2024
Becoming 2021-22 Lonzo Ball before his injury should be Giddey's goal. An efficient three-point shooter who didn't need a significant volume of shots, a transition weapon with elite playmaking skills, and an above-average defender. Those three qualities from the point guard position led Chicago to the first seed in the Eastern Conference standings before Ball fell to injury.
Do you believe Giddey can use last night's performance to turn his season around and fuel a Bulls' spree of winning basketball, or was a fluke blowout of a mediocre Nets team without their best player an exception rather than the rule? Regardless, the confidence boost down the line for several young Chicago Bulls assets will produce more positives than negatives moving forward.
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