PHILADELPHIA – Josh Giddey isn’t superstitious.
That’s why the Bulls guard had no problem talking about his offensive numbers on Monday, admitting he had no fear of jinxing them.
Pretty solid numbers to jinx at that.
It’s been quite the February for Giddey, as he entered the game against the 76ers averaging 19.1 points per game and doing so by shooting a blistering 48.8% from three-point range in that eight-game span.
To put that in perspective, Giddey shot 29.1% from three in November and 22.7% in December.
So what gives?
“Just shooting with confidence,” Giddey said. “There were times earlier in the season where it just wasn’t going in. I was getting good looks, and you just got to stay with it. When you start to second-guess yourself, that’s when you stumble. Good games, bad games, I’ve stayed in the gym. I know it’s something that I need to get better at and need to continue to get better.
“Obviously, you feel good when shots start falling and it can have a snowball effect. That’s where I’m probably at right now.”
It’s more than just the outside shooting, however. In breaking down the film, coach Billy Donovan is also seeing a player that has improved his decisions on closeouts and was also finding a rhythm in attacking the paint.
It’s easy to forget that Giddey is 6-foot-8 and has a positional-size advantage over most backcourt defenders.
“For him, I think he’s taking good threes,” Donovan said of Giddey. “A lot of them are good catch-and-shoot opportunities in space. He’s really increased his shooting percentage from three. And when he gets into the dotted circle right along the lane line, that’s where he’s been really productive. I think he’s really balanced well those shots, and when he can’t quite get there he’s spraying it out and finding other guys.
“I think he’s taking shots for him and his game that are high-percentage shots.”
Little progress
Patrick Williams was with the team in Philadelphia, but he is no closer to getting back on the floor in that two-week re-evaluation window.
Williams has been sidelined with a right knee injury and has only been doing light rehab work.
“They have to wait the two weeks to let it calm down,” Donovan said. “They will do some things this week with him in terms of light loading, doing some plyometrics stuff at a very low level to get him worked back up, but what I got from medical was do not expect him back before (the re-evaluation).”
Williams was scheduled to get that evaluation late this week, but even if he gets the OK, he will have to run through some practices and get his conditioning back up.
A late scratch
Nikola Vucevic was playing through a tweak in his right calf the last few games, but it started to feel tighter after the loss to the Suns on Saturday. He did try and go through warm-ups to see where it was at, but it did not loosen up enough to face Philadelphia.
Donovan didn’t think it was that serious, but they wanted to remain cautious with the veteran.
Not good
The Bulls dodged a bullet on Monday, and one that stands about 7 feet, with Joel Embiid ruled out with that left knee injury.
According to 76ers coach Nick Nurse, Embiid had imaging done in the afternoon, and was scheduled to undergo more testing on Tuesday, before the organization makes a decision to shut him down for the remainder of the season.