With all due respect to college basketball, no game had more madness Thursday than the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Chicago Bulls.
The Lakers lost 119-117 to the 33-40 Bulls despite holding a five-point lead with 10 seconds to go, thanks to a preposterous sequence of events that culminated in a halfcourt buzzer-beater from Josh Giddey.
The Bulls started the comeback with a corner 3-pointer from Patrick Williams to cut the deficit to two points with 9.8 seconds left. In theory, the Lakers were supposed to inbound the ball and take the obvious foul from the Bulls. In practice, LeBron James soft-bounced the inbounds pass and had it stolen by Giddey, who found an open Coby White for a 3-pointer.
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116-115 Bulls, with six points scored in six seconds.
The Lakers nearly redeemed themselves on the next possession. Austin Reaves found a lane and took the ball to the rim to give the Lakers the lead back. At that point, the Bulls had no timeouts left and 3.3 seconds left.
Fortunately, no one picked up Giddey after he inbounded the ball, allowing him to reach halfcourt, sink the buzzer-beater with James in his face and blow the roof off the United Center.
Here are some other angles of the chaotic final few seconds:
