Josh Giddey buried a miracle shot from beyond halfcourt at the final buzzer as the Chicago Bulls overturned an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-117 on Thursday night.
The Bulls (33-40) trailed 115-110 with 12.6 seconds remaining before delivering down the stretch with a wild sequence of plays.
Patrick Williams hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit back to two points before Giddey, who moments earlier had airballed a floater, stole LeBron James’ inbound pass, flicked the pass to White, who drained a trey to put Chicago in front 116-115 with 6.1 seconds to play.
The Lakers retrieved the lead on an Austin Reaves layup with 3.3 seconds on the clock, before the Bulls, who had no timeouts left, struck at the buzzer.
Giddey passed the inbound to Williams, who gave it straight back and the Australian nailed the game-winning 47-foot prayer over James.
Giddey finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his fifth triple-double of the season, while Coby White scored 26 points and Kevin Huerter added 21.
Reaves scored 30 points for the Lakers, and Luka Doncic had 25 points, 10 boards and eight assists. Jaxson Hayes contributed 19 points, and James paired 17 points with 12 assists.
Los Angeles was off target early and Chicago capitalized in transition, moving ahead 24-11 on a Matas Buzelis 3-pointer and leading 32-22 at the end of the first period.
Reaves scored 12 second-quarter points as he ignited the Lakers’ fightback.
The visitors progressively ate into the deficit before notching their first lead of the game, 59-58, when Gabe Vincent buried an off-balance trey over White with 0.6 seconds remaining in the half.
The Lakers’ lead ballooned to 91-75 on the back of a commanding 32-17 third period in which they dominated the Bulls at both ends.
Giddey’s 3-pointer with 7:20 on the clock was Chicago’s first field goal of the third period as the Bulls went 6 of 22 from the floor.
At the other end, Doncic was unstoppable, racking up 12 points — including three 3-pointers — four rebounds and four assists for the quarter.
The margin was out to 96-78 on Jarred Vanderbilt’s three-point play early in the fourth, before White launched separate 8-0 and 11-3 Chicago’s runs to revive the Bulls.
