Josh Giddey bore extra offensive responsibility in the absence of an injured star, but he and his Bulls had a night to forget.
But a fellow Australian star had an equal-career-best night as the beneficiary of a teammate’s injury.
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Chicago fell in disenchanting fashion to the lowly 2-15 New Orleans Pelicans 143-130 on Tuesday AEDT.
And Giddey, who entered play averaging 20.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 9.7 assists, “struggled” with his playmaking and committing turnovers.
On a night where the Bulls didn’t have starting centre Nikola Vucevic due to a knee issue, the visitors severely lacked a paint presence.
Six-foot-eight guard Giddey put up 12 shots to finish with 21 points. But while he added seven rebounds and six assists, he also committed five turnovers and finished a -13 in his 35 minutes on the court.
After Chicago conceded 143 points to the Pelicans, Bulls broadcast analyst Stacey King described the team’s recent defensive performance as “horrendous”, having also conceded 143 to Miami and 120 to Washington in recent games.
And after starting the season 5-0, the Bulls have now lost eight of their past 12 games to fall to ninth in the Eastern Conference standings.
Giddey surpasses Kobe Bryant record | 00:50
The 23-year-old Giddey finished a tough drive to the basket through contact to open Chicago’s scoring, before slicing through the middle of the key for his second make, forcing an early Pelicans timeout call.
Giddey committed two turnovers before being rotated out for the first time but was aggressive in the early going as the Bulls’ primary ball-handler.
Returning late in the first, Giddey sank an open three-pointer from the left corner to boost his outside shooting confidence. He had eight first-quarter points to lead the Bulls’ starters.
The second period was a struggle for the Aussie and his Bulls initially as the Pelicans exploded to lead by as many as 22 points.
But the Australian floor general hit his second three of the evening as the visitors closed to within 14.
Giddey’s drives to the basket weren’t paying dividends on Tuesday.
New Orleans’ Yves Missi was a rim deterrent all night long, and Giddey’s kick-out passes wound up being turnovers on multiple occasions.
“Josh is struggling tonight,” Bulls broadcast analyst Stacey King said in the third quarter.
“He’s got four assists (but) four turnovers.”
The absence of Vucevic was painfully obvious in The Big Easy.
“The Bulls have no post presence … you’re not going to beat teams like that,” King bluntly stated.
Play-by-play caller Adam Amin added: “I hope people recognise — and you and I have seen it especially tonight — just how much they miss Vucevic on the offensive end.”
New Orleans ticked over 100 points with over three minutes still left in the third quarter.
Giddey quickly got to work in the fourth with the Bulls down 15, driving to the basket and drawing a foul.
He later sank his third and fourth three-balls of the evening from 10 tries, but Chicago couldn’t mount a serious final-quarter charge on a night it was thoroughly outplayed.
Flagg’s best too good for Pelicans | 00:52
LANDALE’S CAREER MARK AFTER INJURY BLOW
Jock Landale put up an equal career-high 26 points and took full advantage of an injury to Zach Edey for the Aussie’s best game of the season.
But it wasn’t enough as the Memphis Grizzlies fell to the Denver Nuggets 125-115 at home.
Landale finished with team highs in points (26) and rebounds (10) to go with three triples, two assists and 10-of-18 shooting from the field in 31 minutes in his best game yet for Memphis.
The Aussie big man is now shooting a career-best 44.7 per cent from beyond the arc on 2.6 attempts.
He scored nine of his 26 in the fourth quarter alone to try and rally the Grizzlies, however Denver had all the answers down the stretch.
Edey, who recently returned from off-season ankle surgery to take Landale’s starting centre job, checked out of Tuesday’s game midway through the first term with a head injury and didn’t return.
If Edey misses any more time, Landale, who stared the second half, figures to see an increased role again and would likely return to the starting line-up.
The Grizzlies, still missing Ja Morant (calf), stayed with Denver all game including Landale connecting on a big and-one with 3:08 left in the fourth term to get the hosts within six at 114-108.
But Jamal Murray instantly responded with a 3-pointer and another quick Nuggets bucket off a turnover forced a timeout to Memphis, who wouldn’t get closer than seven points in the final two minutes.
Murray (29 points) and Peyton Watson (27 points) led the undermanned Nuggets in scoring and Nikola Jokic added a triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists).
It snapped a two-game winning streak for Tuomas Iisalo’s side — its first winning streak of the season — to fall to 6-12 overall.
