Dyson Daniels was sensational as the Hawks continued their unbeaten start to the season, with the Aussie recording seven steals in a thumping 128-81 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Daniels filled up the stat sheet, scoring 11 points and adding nine rebounds and four assists to his whopping seven steals.
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He now has 12 steals across the first two games of the season. It’s the most by any player in the first two games of a season this century.
Remarkably, Daniels had his seven in his first 18 minutes of game time.
The Hawks may have scored 128 points but it was shared around.
All-Star Jalen Johnson led the way with 19 pts, seven rebounds and eight assists while Aaron Wiggins had 19 off the pine.
TATUM POWERS CELTICS
Jayson Tatum scored 36 points as the Boston Celtics defeated the New YorkKnicks 107-103 to leave the NBA champions waiting for their first win of the season on Friday.
Tatum, back at full fitness after missing most of last season with a ruptured Achilles, delivered a mesmerizing performanceat the TD Garden to give Boston their first win of the campaign after an opening-day loss to Detroit.
The six-time NBA All-Star shot 14-of-26 from the field, including three three-pointers, with nine rebounds, seven assistsand three steals.
Nine of Tatum’s points came in the fourth quarter as the Knicks, who had trailed by as many as 12 points early in the finalframe, closed to within one point.
Tatum’s superb all-round display earned words of admiration from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
“That was a really well-balanced game from JT on both ends, and you were able to kind of see his greatness,” Mazzulla saidafter the home opener.
Tatum received scoring support from new signing Paul George and Neemius Queta, who both finished with 15 points apiece.
The Knicks were led by 22 points from Karl-Anthony Towns, with OG Anunoby and Miles McBride scoring 20 each. Knicks talismanJalen Brunson chipped in with 19.
‘ROUGH’ GIDDEY REALITY LAID BARE
Josh Giddey was benched late in the Chicago Bulls’ comeback win on Saturday morning AEDT, in a “rough” epitomisation of his start to the season.
Giddey played 25 minutes in the 132-125 win against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he was pulled from the court with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
At the time, the Bulls were down one point, and Gidey had re-entered the game only a minute and a half earlier.
Instead, head coach Tiago Splitter opted for reserve guard Tre Jones to handle point guard duties during crunch time.
And the move paid off, with the veteran recording an assist, a steal, and two sets of clutch free throws after coming back into the game with 3:56 left. He finished with eight assists in a +24 box score performance.
Splitter said of the move post-game: “Cannot say enough about Tre. He changed the game.”
Giddey recorded just six points for the game on 3-9 field goal shooting, but dished nine assists and grabbed four rebounds. He was a -15 in the box score.
Giddey managed two points through 24 minutes in Chicago’s season-opening blowout loss at the hands of the Toronto Raptors two days ago.
The Australian star’s early-season struggles come amid a left wrist injury he’s dealing with.
After the Raptors game, Giddey revealed to media he suffered the injury during the Bulls’ first preseason game, saying it’s something he and the team will have to manage “throughout the season”.
Pre-game on Saturday morning, Splitter said of Giddey’s ailment: “I haven’t seen it affect his play. I understand he’s got something with his wrist. I think he’s just playing basketball.”
External questions were raised after Giddey was seen wearing a wrap of some sort on his left hand.
The Melburnian committed five turnovers in the season opener, at times looking unstable with the ball as the Bulls’ primary handler.
Last September, Giddey signed a four-year extension with the team worth AU$152 million.
But the club has new front office leadership, with Bryson Graham replacing Arturas Karnisovas as the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
Chicago’s tight win over the Bucks was the first of a 12-game Saturday NBA slate.