CHICAGO – Josh Giddey scored a career-high 32 points and Nikola Vucevic added 26 as the Chicago Bulls remained unbeaten with a 135-125 win over the visiting New York Knicks on Oct 31 in the NBA Cup opener for both squads.

At 5-0, the Bulls are off to their best start since the 1996-97 campaign when Michael Jordan led them to the title. Chicago are one of three remaining unbeaten National Basketball Association (NBA) teams but the only one left in the East.

Australian guard Giddey was quoted by ESPN as saying: “We feel good as a group of where we’re at right now, but there’s a long way to go.

“Every night, there’s different guys making plays and stepping up. We’ve got a bunch of guys – six, seven guys averaging double figures. That kind of speaks volumes to how deep we are as a team and the impact we’re getting across the board.”

Giddey had 21 points in the first half on seven-of-10 shooting, including four-of-five from three-point range.

The Bulls led by as many as 22 in the second quarter before New York rallied to pull within 115-113 on O.G. Anunoby’s three-pointer with 5:43 left in the contest.

Vucevic scored eight points during a 13-3 run to help Chicago move ahead 128-116 with 1:44 remaining. Jalen Brunson scored to make it an eight-point game with 58 seconds left before the Bulls went on to seal coach Billy Donovan’s 200th victory with the team.

Said Donovan: “The mentality that they believe, which I think is very, very powerful, I think when there’s belief it’s really, really powerful.

“There’s good connection. They’ve got good relationships. They all can talk to each other. I think there’s a lot of positive things that they have that really go into winning.

Ayo Dosunmu (22), Matas Buzelis (13), Kevin Huerter (12) and Jalen Smith (10) also finished in double figures for Chicago. Giddey added 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Brunson scored 29 points for the Knicks, who have lost three straight. Anunoby had 26 points while Mikal Bridges had 23 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Elsewhere, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points as the Boston Celtics knocked Philadelphia from the ranks of the unbeaten 109-108 as the NBA Cup in-season tournament began.

The Celtics avenged a 117-116 loss to the 76ers in their opener at Boston and improved to 3-3 while dropping the host Sixers to 4-1.

“Just grit. I think we just slugged it out,” said Brown, whose 13-of-19 shooting including four-of-seven from three-point range. “We made a bunch of mistakes but we found a way to win in the end.”

In Memphis, Los Angeles Lakers star guard Luka Doncic, sidelined a week ago with a left finger sprain and lower left leg bruise, scored 44 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and passed off six assists in a triumphant return with a 117-112 victory against the Grizzlies.

“I was very happy to see him back,” Lakers standout Austin Reaves said. “He has the capability of putting a team on his back and I think he did that tonight.”

Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points, including the game-winning basket with 0.4 of a second remaining, and James Harden added 24 to give the Los Angeles Clippers a 126-124 home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

In other notable ties on Oct 31, Portland’s Jerami Grant sank two free throws with 1.4 seconds to play to give the Trail Blazers a 109-107 home victory over the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets got 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists from Nikola Jokic, his streak of four straight triple-doubles to start the season ending in the defeat. REUTERS, AFP