Game 4a: The Taj Gibson game winner that could’ve been
Basketball-Reference box score.
This game isn’t actually part of the TNT streak, but it’s important for us to include because it almost was. The January 20 matchup against the Lakers was originally scheduled to be on TNT, but it got replaced by Rockets/Blazers due to disappointing seasons from both Chicago and Los Angeles.
You wouldn’t know that this game wasn’t nationally televised just by looking at it, though. It has all the trappings of a member of this elusive club: a down-to-the-wire finish, season-high performances, absences from some of the opposing team’s best players and even a game winner.
It was a tight game throughout, with 14 ties and 23 lead changes, according to Bleacher Report. The Lakers were missing both Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, but Nick Young stepped up in their absence and scored 31, including several clutch baskets down the stretch. The Bulls, however, had several impressive performances of their own. D.J. Augustin scored a season-high 27 points and Noah pulled down a monstrous 21 rebounds. Butler had a double-double, moving into a bigger role after Deng was traded to Cleveland for draft picks and Andrew Bynum.
It was Taj who sealed the victory for the Bulls with an otherwise pedestrian looking left-handed layup that kissed the glass right as the final buzzer sounded. The win put the Bulls back at .500 and kept their postseason aspirations on life support for a little longer.