NBA goes Giddey
Aussie breaks records in starring debut for Oklahoma City Thunder
AFTER an impressive pre-season that earned him rave reviews across America, Aussie star Josh Giddey broke records in his NBA debut for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 107-86 loss to the Utah Jazz and fellow Australian Joe Ingles at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Giddey now lays claim to the most rebounds made by a Thunder player on debut, as the 19-year-old led the team with 10 boards. He also became the first Australian player to lead a team in rebounds during their NBA debut.
It wasn’t the only stat Giddey led the team in either, as he shared the most assists for the Thunder alongside Aleksej Pokusevski with three each.
The former Adelaide 36ers guard also made Australian NBA history as he became the nation’s youngest player to make his debut in the competition at 19 years and 10 days, beating Dante Exum’s previous record of 19 years and 108 days.
Giddey was on the court for almost 29 minutes in his debut and scored his first points midway through the first quarter after driving at Jazz small forward Bojan Bogdanovic and making an easy bucket off the glass.
For his second NBA basket, the 19-year-old floated a shot over fellow countryman Ingles from mid-range inside the arc for another two-pointer.
Those were the only buckets made by Giddey, who was two from seven when shooting and did not attempt a threepointer.
Ingles played a key role for the Jazz as well, scoring 14 points and also dishing three assists.
It no doubt would have been a surreal moment for Giddey to come up against his fellow countryman, especially since Ingles would stay up till 3am watching the young gun’s NBL games to offer him advice.
Perhaps one piece of advice given by Ingles to Giddey was to protect the ball, as the 19year-old had only one turnover in the time he was on the court.
Giddey will look to build on a promising debut when the Thunder meet Houston on Saturday at 11am (AEDT).