That play came after Giddey was called for a phantom foul where he appeared to have hit the ball onto Davis’ leg and caused a turnover; he took the call in his stride.

But he did give the Lakers a chance to force overtime as his inbound pass with nine seconds to play went straight into the hands of another former Thunder player in Carmelo Anthony. Anthony missed a three-point shot from the top of the key that would have tied the game.

Giddey said his turnover was the worst possible result given Anthony’s history as a deadly shooter but on his day the Victorian was lucky the veteran forward missed his shot. After the game Giddey posted a TikTok video making fun of his turnover.

Westbrook, who was lovingly welcomed back pre-game, was ejected in the final seconds after Thunder forward Darius Bazley stole a pass and threw down a dunk in transition, Westbrook scolded his former teammate for breaking the unwritten rule that players should run out the clock when the result is decided.

But the Thunder were only up by four and Bazley had every right to make sure of the victory, with Westbrook given his second technical foul and booed off the court.

Westbrook finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 10 turnovers.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault praised Giddey’s play-making just five games into his rookie season and urged his young side to keep fighting through bad patches.

“He was a catalyst of our ball movement, and that’s something we’ve asked him to do,” Daigneault said.

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“We talk about growing through experiences – we just want to grow through all of them.

“I want to reinforce this again, nothing is linear. You’re going to bleed in these games, you can’t avoid that – when that happens, you embrace it.”

The Thunder had six players score in double-figures.

Elsewhere, Australian star Patty Mills had his worst shooting game of the new season, finishing with four points and five assists on one of nine shooting after starting this season with 10 straight three-pointers.

But Mills faced much tougher defending from the Miami Heat, who actively worked to cover Mills and force others on his Brooklyn Nets side to take shots as they fell to a 106-93 loss in Brooklyn.

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