A pair of Australians went head-to-head in Chicago on Saturday, with an emerging forward locking down Josh Giddey.
Meanwhile, Dyson Daniels upped his scoring output as the Atlanta Hawks pushed the Denver Nuggets to the absolute brink.
Giddey and the undermanned Bulls once again succumbed to a lowly opponent, dropping their sixth-straight game to lose 120-105 to the 4-18 Indiana Pacers.
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It was Giddey’s least impactful performance of the season, limited to just nine points on 2-9 shooting in 33 minutes as he was benched down the stretch.
Nine points is the Aussie floor general’s equal-lowest output of the season, matched only by his return-from-injury game against Portland in November.
And while the 23-year-old did notch seven rebounds and six assists on Saturday, he also committed five turnovers and was a -17 in his time on the court as his drives to the basket weren’t as fruitful as they otherwise have been this season.
Fellow Melburnian Johnny Furphy — in his second game back from injury after 14 games out — played an early part in quelling his countryman’s influence.
The six-foot-eight guard-forward played solid point-of-attack defence on Giddey when he tried to make moves inside the key.
“Fellow Australian Johnny Furphy is all over him,” Bulls play-by-play caller Adam Amin noted.
Furphy, in his second NBA season, only recently returned to Rick Carlisle’s Indiana lineup after his start to the campaign was hindered by an ankle injury.
The 20-year-old only scored two points in a shallow stat line, but he was an obstacle for the Bulls on defence in 16 minutes of action.
Physical Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard was also giving Giddey troubles on defence, staying in front of the Aussie as he looked to slash to the basket.
Giddey persisted in his aim of getting to the rim as much as possible — and he did draw numerous fouls in doing so — but the Bulls were mostly uninspiring on offence and again surrendered a 120-plus-point score to their opposition amid an alarming trend.
Giddey didn’t play the final four minutes after coach Billy Donovan pulled the Aussie with the Bulls down 15 points. The Australian committed a foul and missed two shots before Donovan pulled the plug with 4:20 remaining.
Chicago’s injury list is long, with all of Ayo Dosunmu, Tre Jones, Isaac Okoro, Jalen Smith and Kevin Huerter unavailable on Saturday.
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In Atlanta, Daniels’ Hawks fell 134-133 against the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, who dropped 40 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Daniels played an equal-team-high 34 minutes and finished with 15 points on 7-14 shooting, with eight assists and three rebounds.