The Bulls and Bucks were tied at 90-all last night with 1.3 seconds left when Derrick Rose picked the worst time to lose his focus. The Bulls PG in his first playoff series since 2012, got burned backdoor by Jerry Bayless as the Bucks survived a knockout Game 4, 92-90, to head back to Chicago for Game 5 tomorrow night.
To his credit, Rose took full responsibility for the blunder after the game. Via ESPN Chicago:
“I put that all on me,” Rose said. “Just wasn’t paying attention to the ball. … But if anything, this is a learning experience. I don’t feel bad for myself; I feel bad for my teammates. Knowing that we could have forced the overtime and I messed things up. But I swear I’m built for it.”
Rose had 14 points and six assists in the loss, blowing a hot-shooting night by his backcourt partner, Jimmy Butler. Butler — who will be a restricted free agent on July 1 — poured in 33 points on a hyper-efficient 12-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. But as you can see, the last play’s efficacy — and many have credited it with Jason Kidd’s ATO play — relied on Rose’s relaxed presence as Bayless cut backdoor for the game-winning, buzzer-beating layup.
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Rose also had eight turnovers and the whole Bulls team coughed it up a season-high 28 times.
“Tonight was a hard one,” Rose said. “We had twentysomething turnovers; I think I had like 20 of them. It felt like 20, but the only thing I can do right now is just learn from it, watch film and come ready next game.”
The fact they turned it over as often as they did, and still had a chance to force overtime is a testament to Butler’s hot shooting and their team as a whole. We’re guessing Chicago is less casual with the ball on Monday night at the United Center as they try to close out the Bucks.
