The eagerly anticipated NBA clash between compatriots Ben Simmons and Josh Giddey hasn’t eventuated in New York.
Brooklyn’s Simmons missed Sunday night’s contest with Oklahoma City due to back soreness – the Nets announcing 22 minutes before tip-off that the 26-year-old was out.
But Giddey made sure Thunder and Australian NBA fans in general still enjoyed the contest at Barclays Center by scoring his season-high and an equal game-high 28 points, on 12 of 21 shooting from the field, in the 112-102 win.
The 20-year-old Melbournian fell just shy of his seventh triple-double, adding nine rebounds and nine assists as OKC earned a third straight win to wrap up an east coast road trip and improved to 21-23 and 12th in the Western Conference standings.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also scored 28 points for Oklahoma City, while Luguentz Dort drained five of his seven triples for 22 points.
The Thunder used a 15-6 spurt over the first four minutes of the final quarter to take a 90-86 lead, with Giddey scoring nine points to spearhead their push.
Seth Curry led Brooklyn (27-15), who were also missing Kevin Durant (knee), with 23 points.
Nic Claxton recorded his team-best 12th double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds, Kyrie Irving had 14 points and Boomers skipper Patty Mills six on 2-of-3 from three-point range.
Simmons had missed 10 games this season before this contest. He sat out five games with left knee soreness, four with a calf strain, and one with knee-and-calf injury management.
This season, Simmons is averaging 7.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in 27.2 minutes per game.
Elsewhere, Chicago beat Golden State for the first time since 2017, winning 132-118. Nikola Vucevic matched a career high with 43 points as the Bulls snapped an 11-game losing streak against the defending champion Warriors.
Klay Thompson scored 26 points and Stephen Curry added 20 for Golden State (21-22), who have dropped four of their last five games.
The Clippers were 121-100 winners Los Angeles over the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks defeated the Detroit Pistons 117-104 .
With AP.
