Derrick Rose Dominates Down The Stretch As The Bulls Defeat OKC

What an odd year already for Derrick Rose. So much has been written about him, and it’s hard to separate fact from fiction. Regardless of his off-court headaches, his on-court performances have got people talking. He failed to crack double-digits in his last three games, the first time that’s ever happened — in his career.

The Bulls were also struggling to adapt to a post-Tom Thibodeau existence, and a new, wide open five-out attack from first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg. As the aforementioned single-digit outings show, the Hoiberg tenure wasn’t going so great for Derrick, either. But the final 12 minutes of Thursday night’s 104-98 win over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder certainly went a long way toward healing a fan base fractured by the up-and-down displays from their Prodigal Son.

For the game, the Bulls point guard dropped a team-high 29 points on 12-of-25 from the field. In the final session, when Chicago outscored Oklahoma City, 28-25, to seal the win, Rose scored 12 points and assisted on three more scores. He was ripping through the Thunder defense like it was 2011 and basketball was the only thing on his mind.

His transformative presence was most viscerally captured in the final four minutes. With the score tied at 92, Rose started off his stretch sprint with a floater in the lane.

Then a bank shot went through.

And he hit another jumper from the baseline.

After Jimmy Butler poked the ball away from KD on the drive…

It was back in Rose’s hands with a 100-96 lead and a little over a minute to play. That’s when he hit a step-back jumper that gave Chicago a two possession lead the Thunder just couldn’t overcome.

Joa certainly liked it.

After the game, he unburdened himself a tad while talking to Craig Sager.

“No one game is going to define who I am as a player.”