PHOENIX – If it was November or December, it would have likely been a much different scenario for Josh Giddey.
With the Bulls fighting for their play-in seeding lives, however, and just 13 more regular season games left? As far as the point guard was concerned, it was all hands-on deck, bad ankle and all.
Not only did Giddey make his return on Wednesday against the Suns after missing the last two games with the injury, but played pretty well, scoring 22 points and playing just over 30 minutes. The same couldn’t be said for the Bulls as a team, losing 127-121 and dropping to 29-40 on the season.
If there was a spark of hope from the evening it was that Miami also lost, so the Bulls stayed in the No. 9 spot of the Eastern Conference seedings.
As for Giddey, don’t rule him out of the playing in the back-to-back in Sacramento on Thursday, which was not the plan at the start of this road trip.
As late as Tuesday, Giddey was supposed to play in one of the back-to-backs and sit the other.
“At this point of the year every game is must-win and we’re trying to make a push to the playoffs, so these last (13) games are critical and every one of them matters, so you want to be out there as much as you can, and I definitely do, so if I’m good to go I’ll play,” Giddey said. “Obviously, it will be a discussion between me and the medical team.”
Good news for Giddey, but even better news for the Bulls.
In his previous nine games since the All-Star Break, all Giddey did was average 23.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and 8.4 assist per game, while shooting a ridiculous 52.5% from three-point range. Besides Coby White, Giddey has been the team’s best player.
That was again on display as White scored 24, matching Nikola Vucevic’s 24, while Giddey added seven rebounds and six assists.
The issue was once again star power, as the Suns – as dysfunctional as they’ve been – had it, and the Bulls didn’t.
Kevin Durant helped build the first-half lead for Phoenix, scoring 17 of his 26 points going into halftime, and then it was the Devin Booker show as he scored 33 of his game-high 41 points in the second half.
The Bulls won’t have much recovery time, off to Sacramento for the quick turnaround game, but Giddey sounded like a go.
“All the workout stuff he’s done, he’s responded really well,” Donovan said. “He did live contact the last two workouts he had. We’re fortunate.”
Ball won’t head west
Giddey’s return plan isn’t the only one changing. Guard Lonzo Ball (right wrist) was expected to join the Bulls in Los Angeles this weekend but will stay back in Chicago, Donovan said.
Ball has been rehabbing the wrist and has made enough progress the last few days that the Bulls don’t want to interrupt it by having him take a day off to travel.
“He’s feeling better, hopefully starting to shoot,” Donovan said. “For the first time, I think he felt comfortable breaking his wrist down. They’ve tried to really stay on top of his conditioning and balance [his surgically repaired] knee, but unfortunately it’s been a really slow process.”
Ball has been running a lot to keep his conditioning up, but he needs his right hand for his skills to matter.
“I’m sure he’s tired of running, but he’s got to get more with the ball,” Donovan said. “I think the more he can do that, the better.”
In Pitino’s corner
Donovan played for legendary college coach Rick Pitino and also coached under him at Kentucky. Although Donovan, who made his mark at Florida, was pulling for the Gators in the NCAA Tournament, St. John’s — coached by Pitino — is next on his list of teams he wants to see do well.
“Going through [all the issues Pitino went through] and then having to go to Greece to coach, and then going to Iona, speaks to how much he loves coaching and loves the game of basketball,” Donovan said. “He’s always going to be around it. For me, personally, I’m really, really happy for him just because of the journey he’s had to go through.”