NBA Week: Giddey's a baller, Lakers flop and why the Bulls have more to prove

Welcome to NBA Week, a fresh look at the biggest storylines to emerge over the past seven days.

It’s hard to keep a lid on the Josh Giddey hype when he keeps raising the bar. His latest feat came with a string of firsts and records:

Giddey shot his first NBA double-double: 18 points, 10 rebounds.

He was part of the Thunder’s first win of the year, an historic 26-point comeback that was a franchise record.

And he became the third NBA player to record 10 assists in a single game behind Lakers legend LeBron.

For a 19-year old rookie who’s played just five NBA games, he’s made an instant impact.

“He’s just a baller,” defensive beast and Thunder teammate Lu Dort told the media.

(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

Oklahoma found themselves in dire territory in the second quarter when the Lakers raced out to a 70-44 lead. The game looked dead and buried.

Enter: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

In a dominant third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander went lights-out berserk with 17-points, and stole back momentum. They managed to stifle the Lakers who had no answers at either end of the floor and kept their hot run going to win by 8 points (123-115) and register their first win which takes them to 1-4.

Westbrook got his first triple-double as a Laker and stuffed the stat sheet with good and not-so-good numbers. He finished with 20 points 14 rebounds and 13 assists, but also coughed up 10 turnovers.

“We had to get a stop by stop and bucket by bucket. We just stayed the course,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game. “At that moment I was feeling hot. I don’t know what was going to happen but I felt like shooting threes and it worked out for the better.”

In another record-breaking game, journeyman and long-range marksman Joe Ingles hit his 1000th three-pointer against the Denver Nuggets during their 122-110 win. He reached the milestone while shooting at 41.5 percent, joining elite company in Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kyle Korver and Steve Nash.

He also became the first player in Jazz history to reach that feat which puts him no.1 on the all-time leaderboard ahead of John Stockton (845), Donovan Mitchell (736), and Gordon Hayward (689).

The record was reached with his third triple spotting up on the wing and he ended the night with 13 points, five rebounds, four assists, along with three triples (3-of-5) going 4-of-6 from the field.

WHO’S HOT?

— In four games Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has exploded out of the blocks averaging 30 points per game (122 points total) and 8.5 assists. He’s bouncing off walls. Memphis plays the Warriors and Heat in their next two. One will be a shoot-out and the other will be a tough defensive match up.

— Kevin Durant is doing Kevin Durant things. Without Kyrie Irving and a sub-par James Harden, he’s taking the lion’s share of shots and making them count. Right now he’s the main pillar holding the Brooklyn Nets aloft. He’s scored 149 points in total (av: 29.8) and is averaging 10 rebounds and five assists per game going at 54 percent from the field. It’s scary.

— We expect to see Steph Curry opening his 2021-22 campaign in fine fashion with 18 triples, but what we didn’t see coming was the hot start from 29-year-old Harrison Barnes who is scoring 26.8 points per game, averaging 10 rebounds going at 51.4 percent from the field. He’s scored: 36, 25, 24, 22 in the four games he’s played. He scored eight triples in the season opener against Portland. And grabbed 15 rebounds against Utah. He also hit the game-winner against Phoenix. Is any of this sustainable? Probably not. But so far the numbers don’t lie so let’s just enjoy it.

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

With a mere seconds remaining in the Thunder and Lakers match up, Darius Bazley intercepted an in-bound ball from Malik Monk at half court, and quickly got to the rim for a monster jam.

It’s commonly known in basketball — almost like a gentleman’s agreement or an unwritten rule — that if the shot clock is off and game has been decided, the winning team shouldn’t score and just hold the ball. But this isn’t set in stone. Players can do what they want. Bazley’s dunk infuriated Westbrook and things got very chippy. And as a result Russell Westbrook got ejected with 1.5 seconds remaining.

This is what he told reporters this after the game:

“We’re old school. When s*** like that happens I don’t let it slide,” he said. “There’s certain things you just don’t do in sports. Like in baseball you don’t flip a bat. Game was already over and I didn’t like it. Simple as that.”

BY THE NUMBERS

606 — That’s the total points scored by Charlotte — yes, the Hornets — the no.1 ranked team in the NBA so far. They’re averaging 121.2 per game. This is a big reason why they’re in second position in the Eastern Conference at 4-1. Their hot start is largely thanks to Miles Bridges and LaMelo Ball; Bridges is averaging 26.2 and 8 rebounds a game (ranked 12th in the NBA) and Ball, a regular triple double threat, is averaging 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6 assists.

20 — It is hard to fathom that there’s someone out there that can match the freakish abilities of Steph Curry from beyond the arc. But, there is. Portland’s CJ McCollum leads the NBA in triples and has started the year hot picking up where he left off from last year. In his first four games he’s gone 6, 6, 4, 4 for threes shooting at 47.6 percent.

THEY SAID IT

“With a guy like that you can’t stress about him scoring. That’s what he’s gonna do. Muh-f*****’s like 7’2, 280 pounds. S**8, we put four people on him and he’ll still score the ball.” — Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Edwards on stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo [source: Jon Krawczynski via Twitter]

FINAL WORD

The 4-0 Chicago Bulls are not the real deal, but could be.

On paper, the undefeated start by the Bulls looks shiny and much like the trimmings of an early foundation for a playoff campaign. It’s still early to get a true reading on what their start actually means, but so far what they’re doing looks extremely promising on court with a versatile quartet of Vucevic, LaVine, DeRozan and Ball all impacting games at different stages.

But, when you examine those wins closely, they’ve have come at the hands of a winless Pistons twice (0-3) , rebuilding Raptors and the Pelicans who are missing their key piece Zion Williamson. In the Raptors game they almost blew a 20-point lead, with Toronto losing by three.

All this to say, if the Bulls’ form right now is real and if they’re truly retooled, then they have some great tests coming up when they take on the Randle-led Knicks, Jazz, and Celtics. If they win those, then the conversation around ‘are they real?’ or not will evaporate.