An elbow and technical show how much Bulls guard Josh Giddey's defense has evolved

Lakers guard Luka Doncic got his points in the first half against the Bulls, but Josh Giddey got his retribution from last season. Not only did Giddey execute a great gameplan on the defensive end, but continued to silence the idea that he could be easily the hunted on that side of the ball.Wally Skalij/AP

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LOS ANGELES — The minutes started dwindling in Game 1.

But the issues were masked with a win.

By Game 4 of the Western Conference second-round playoff series between the Mavericks and Thunder, however, Josh Giddey saw the writing on the wall.

Then-Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and, to a certain extent, Kyrie Irving were hunting down Giddey when they had the ball in their hands.…