US reaction to Australian star Josh Giddey after 31-point postseason debut for Oklahoma Thunder
America has finally realised how good Australian rising star Josh Giddey really is after his impressive postseason debut in Oklahoma City’s upset win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Giddey had 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, in an extraordinary display that had statisticians reaching for record books.
The 20-year-old was just one rebound off a triple-double and his grit and aggression on the court was dually noticed by NBA pundits across the country.
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The most telling moment that displayed his resolve was when Pelicans veteran Josh Richardson knocked Giddey to the floor near midcourt while trying to set a screen with an elbow to the groin area.
Giddey angrily came to his feet and strode toward Richardson and teammates held both back while officials called for a video review and determined that Richardson had committed a flagrant foul.
Giddey made one of two free throws to tie the match and set the stage for an intense finish.
“Don’t do that bullshit again. Don’t do it again,” Giddey warned while pointing angrily at Richardson, who received a ‘flagrant one’ foul.
The incident and his performance as a whole served as a coming of age moment for Giddey, who has been physically tested by rivals on a nightly basis since coming into the league.
“I’ve been watching him [Giddey] more and more this year,” Fox Sports USA’s Skip Bayless said on Undisputed, the show he hosts with NFL great Shannon Sharpe.
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“He’s still 20 years old. Twenty years of age.
“It’s like when a record or song comes out, you listen to it the first time and you’re like, ‘Nah.’ Then you hear it again and you’re like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know.’
“Then the fourth time, you’re like, ‘Wait a second, I really like that.’ Then you can’t stop listening to it. That’s Josh Giddey. He is six feet, eight inches tall. He can just flat out play basketball.
Sharpe added: “You watch him up close and personal, you get a sense. OK, yeah, he’s really good. He can really play.”
Thunder beat writer and host of the Locked On Thunder podcast, Rylan Stiles, said: “What Josh Giddey did was answer everyone’s question.
“All of his career has been people talking about ‘Can he play in the playoffs? He’s not particularly great defensively, he can’t score, he can’t shoot’ … here it is, folks: he just has that it factor.
“I know we don’t like that, we want to quantify everything. We want to tangibly look at something and see why it’s working.
“But the bottom line is, Josh Giddey has played grown men his entire life and has always stepped up when the lights get brightest. He did it again scoring 31 points, nailing three triples.”
The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel added: “At the ripe age of 20, Giddey is more than just a basketball matrix, more than just a six-foot-eight point guard who can more than meet all the skill demands of that position.
“Giddey also is an iron-willed competitor who has been competing against older ballplayers for years and seems more than capable of standing up to the playoff heat.”
JJ Redick, a 15-year NBA veteran, wrote on Twitter: “Hey Josh Giddey is good.”
The loss eliminated the ninth-seeded Pelicans, while 10th seed Oklahoma City advanced to play at Minnesota on Saturday (AEST) for the right to enter the NBA playoffs as an eighth seed and meet No.1 Denver.
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