While yes, I am dating myself a bit here mentioning the first time the Jordan Bulls (and any other Bulls team) beat the Lakers in the Finals. Highlighted in “The Last Dance,” we saw the hype of MJ taking on Magic on the world stage, and of course the rest is history. Fast forward several decades (Jesus, that long?) and you have LeBron James and… Josh Giddey? Yeah, not really the same thing, but with last night’s end to the game, you’d think we were watching some crazy playoffs match-up where everything was on the line. Or maybe LeBron LeChoked? Naw.
Regardless, here are the last 13 seconds of the game where the Bulls scored 9 points to beat the Lakers by one, and ending with, well, I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it.
So look, obviously, there’s some hyperbole here with the Magic and Jordan name drops, but hey, you take the March games with some measure of “expect some wild sh*t”. Combine that and the crazy ending to the West’s seeding and Play-in spots, we are getting must-see T.V. a bit earlier than expected (just the way your mother likes it). Unless your a Wizards fan, that is.
While the aftermath would be a little different if LeBron made that inbound pass and/or played some defense on Gidday’s heave instead of doubling Vučević (Vucevic with less symbols), that’s still Josh Giddey with the 25/14/11 on 8-19. One of my favorite basketball jokes is that Giddey’s scouting report was basically; excels at every single thing except playing basketball. While he’s closer to old Ben Simmons than new Ben Simmons, scoring 15ish points is for the year is actually just fine, but the last few months and especially after Zach LaVine trade, Giddey has been given the ball and he’s responded by being a 20/10/10 threat every night. He actually moved to 2nd most triple-doubles in a season for the Bulls with his fifth last night.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time in the West with the 3-seed and 8-seed separated only by four losses with four games to go. While the math tells me that the standings are somewhat set, there could be still some crazy movement the last week. Lakers and Grizzlies have been struggling a bit, 4-6 and 5-5 in their last 10 while the Clippers have gone 8-2. Jokic is back, Warriors have finally cooled off just a tad and the Timberwolves are still around.
While NBA discourse would have you believe it’s been a generally average or below average season, I completely disagree and will hold off final confirmation until next week. Until then!
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
