Is Josh Giddey’s hot streak answering the right questions?

The Josh Giddey hot streak continues.

Scoring 21 points, Giddey made all four of his three-point attempts. He added eight rebounds and 12 assists. The Chicago Bulls may have lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, 122-117, but Giddey continues to play some of his best basketball.

Is Giddey answering the big questions about him or is he simply on an extended hot streak?

Widely considered a pass-first player, Giddey has been on fire as a scorer since the All-Star Break. In those four games, he’s averaging 24.3 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists per game on 57.8 percent shooting from the field.

Notably, he’s been aggressively driving to the rim, finishing and drawing fouls at an exceptional rate.

“He’s getting into the teeth of the defense,” Billy Donovan said. “He’s not shooting a lot of those runners, so to speak, from from below the free throw line. He’s really going in a little bit deeper and he’s passing it and finding other guys.”

Floaters are not regarded as efficient offense, yet they take up 28 percent of Giddey’s shot diet. He makes them at a 47 percent rate, which ranks in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. It would be preferable if he could get all the way to the rim, and of late, Giddey has reduced his reliance on his floater — a mindset switch for him as he aims to improve his offensive potency.

“Just need to be aggressive, be confident, and don’t come into any game pre-determining what’s going to happen, what I’m going to do,” Giddey said of his mindset. “Just take what the defense gives.”

The aggression has led to more efficient scoring — not just making his shots but generating high quality offense. He’s 17-of-18 at the foul line over that stretch, meaning he’s attempting 4.5 free throw attempts per game, up from his season average of 2.4.

In previous stops with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Australian National Team, Giddey has been able to put up numbers when given high usage. The shooting, however, has been cause for concern. A career 32.4 percent three-point shooter on low volume, Giddey is up to 37 percent on the season, attempting 3.9 threes per game, a career-high.

His recent stretch has been even more impressive — he’s made 14 of his last 19 attempts.

“They’re going in,” a level-headed Giddey said of his three-point outburst. “It’s not always going to be like that. There’s going to be games where I don’t make it three. There’s gonna be games where I do make threes. So (it’s about) not getting worried about previous results.”

Historically, opponents have been able to ignore Giddey on the perimeter and dare him to beat them with the long ball. Playing four-on-five neutralizes him by taking away driving lanes.

But with the way he’s shooting the ball, defenses are forced to pay attention, a development that’s opening up passing lanes to create easy shots for his teammates.

Zach Collins, starting in place of Nikola Vucevic, had his best performance in a Bulls uniform, thanks in large part to his pick-and-roll partnership with Giddey.

“He’s been on a hell of a run lately,” Collins said following his own masterpiece of 21 points, 17 rebounds and six assists. “So we’re all beneficiaries of that. He’s drawing a lot of attention the way he puts pressure on the rim, the way he’s shooting the ball right now. So we just got to be ready to convert when he sees us in the pick-and-roll or the weak side. He’s a phenomenal passer and very high basketball IQ, so he’s easy to play.”

Though they have been competitive, the Bulls are still only 1-3 over his hot streak, but to his credit, Giddey has been a positive contributor by plus-minus in each of those games. The team has been better with him on the court.

A restricted free agent this summer, the Bulls must consider the larger sample when tasked with putting a price tag on his production. Over the course of the season, the Bulls’ net rating is 1.9 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the court compared to when he sits.

There is no doubt that Giddey is a unique, talented player. It’s unrealistic to expect him to stay this hot, but his recent play is helping to answer one of the big questions about him.

It just may not be answering the right questions about him. The questions even Giddey knows he needs to answer.

With Zach LaVine out of town and injuries sidelining Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams, Jalen Smith and Vucevic, the Bulls have needed Giddey to step up and be the offensive initiator.

He has excelled in that role, but the question of how he impacts the game in a scaled down role persists.

“It feels good, any player feels good when when the ball’s going through the rim. You get confidence from it, but it’s about how you respond when the opposite, when you’re not making shots,” he said. “How can you continue to impact the game? Obviously they’re going in now, but there will be a point where they don’t all go in and I’ve got to figure out all the ways to be impactful and help our team try and win games.”