Josh Giddey delivered a moment of pure basketball magic, hitting a halfcourt buzzer-beater over LeBron James to lead the Chicago Bulls to an unbelievable win over the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a finish straight out of a Hollywood script, with a chaotic final sequence that had fans on the edge of their seats.
With the Lakers leading 115-110 and only 12.6 seconds left, Giddey found Nikola Vučević on the inbound pass, who quickly set up Patrick Williams for a clutch three-pointer. LeBron then made a costly mistake, misfiring on the Lakers' inbound pass and handing the ball back to Chicago. Giddey pounced on the opportunity, dishing it to Coby White for another three-pointer, flipping the game in favor of the Bulls at 116-115 with just 6.1 seconds remaining.
Austin Reaves briefly saved the Lakers with a driving layup, putting them ahead 117-116 with 3.3 seconds left. But the final play belonged to Giddey. With no timeouts left, he received the inbound pass, took a dribble, and launched a prayer from beyond halfcourt. The crowd froze, watching in disbelief as the ball soared through the air—then erupted as it swished through the net. The United Center turned into absolute mayhem.
“Special moment to do it with these guys,” Giddey said after the game. “We’ve shown we can beat anybody. The way we play wears teams down.” The Aussie guard admitted he had never hit a game-winner before, making his stunning shot even more iconic.
The loss left the Lakers devastated. “Horrible turnover by me,” LeBron admitted. “We put ourselves in position to win and let it slip away.” Bulls guard Kevin Huerter called it the “craziest game of my life.”
Giddey finished with a triple-double—25 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists—while White contributed 26 points. Meanwhile, Reaves led the Lakers with 30 points, and Luka Dončić had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
The Bulls’ winning streak continues, keeping them in the mix for a higher play-in seed. The Lakers, however, are struggling, having lost four of their last five games. To add to the chaos of the night, the Indiana Pacers set a franchise record with 162 points in a blowout win against the Washington Wizards—proving that anything can happen in the NBA.
