We already knew Derrick Rose was back. We had seen the 50-point outburst and the tears that followed. We watched him convert those vintage up-and-unders, the same ones that had revived an entire franchise seven years earlier. We observed the transformation of an athlete into a lethal 3-point shooter. We saw it all.
We viewed it all from afar as the same Derrick Rose that had made basketball fun in Chicago again became that player once again this season. And on Wednesday night, we got to witness him do it in the city, in the arena and on the court where it all began.
And it was perfect.
In a game that featured an All-Star, recent No. 1 picks and budding young talents, Rose was the best player on the floor. The 30-year-old Rose, the same one who two years earlier was traded to New York, then signed a minimum deal in Cleveland, was traded after 16 games and was subsequently cut by the Utah Jazz before he ever played a minute, shined brightest.
He finished with a game-high 24 points on 11 of 19 shooting and had 8 assists and 3 rebounds in 38 minutes. And yet, those numbers didn’t even come close to doing his performance justice.
If it sounds cliché, it should: Wednesday night was vintage D-Rose.
From the moment Rose was introduced as “from Chicago” in the starting lineups, to the MVP chants that echoed throughout the United Center in the fourth quarter, the kid from Englewood who became a Bulls legend before our eyes returned home.
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His performance created an atmosphere that felt like 2011 again. The crowd, littered with Simeon and No. 1 Bulls jerseys, cheered each time he reentered the game, there were audible oohs and aahs each time he made a quick cut, a jump-pass or a crossover and drive to the basket. For a night, Rose took us back to 2011 and created a new memory that felt so much like the old.
“It was great, man. I didn’t expect it to be like this,” Rose said after meeting postgame with more than 70 friends and family members who came to watch him play. “It’s overwhelming at some points, and you could tell the support is still here.”
Rose said he had butterflies when he arrived at the arena Wednesday but that they were gone by the time the game began. It wasn’t difficult to see that Rose wasn’t going to be fazed by the showering of love and support; he scored 10 points and handed out five assists in the opening quarter, accounting for 21 of Minnesota’s 29 points; the Bulls scored 18.
The game was never in question, though the Bulls did manage to cut the deficit to six midway through the second quarter. Then Rose found another burst, hitting a tough bank shot that began a 22-5 run to close out the quarter, giving the Timberwolves a 23-point halftime lead.
Rose cruised in the second half to the tune of eight points and three assists as the Timberwolves moved to 12-7 since trading Jimmy Butler. The former league MVP put the finishing touches on his vintage night with a driving layup that Kris Dunn fouled him on.
And as he stepped to the line, a familiar chorus of “M-V-P!” chants began from any of the 21,852 in attendance. Even Rose admitted he cracked a smile upon hearing the chants before calmly sinking the free throw.
“It made me reminisce about some of the old days and how grateful I was to be in that position at a young age and just trying to take all of it in,” He said. “With the year I’m having it was very special to come in here and play.”
It was a stark contrast from 2016, when Rose first arrived as a visitor in the United Center playing for the New York Knicks. He came alongside Joakim Noah, and the season was only five games old. Noah actually received a larger applause from the United Center crowd than did Rose, who finished with 15 points and 11 assists in an upset win over the Butler-led Bulls.
And yet this time felt like the first time. Just as Rose said afterward that he feels like he’s in his rookie season, rediscovering how to play, Wednesday felt like the first time seeing that Derrick Rose again. A leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, Rose was playing with the confidence and freedom that made him such a loving figure in his hometown for seven seasons. It felt like the real return.
“I think he’ll always be associated with the city and the organization,” Thibodeau said after the game. “There’s a lot of friends and family here for him. I think there’s a great appreciation for what he did…it says a lot about what he accomplished.”
Though Rose never added a seventh banner to the United Center rafters, he received a rightful hero’s welcome on Wednesday. He’s healthy: Rose has missed just three games before the new year, the fewest since his ACL surgeries. He’s happy: He met with family members, took photographs, shared hugs and laughs for nearly 30 minutes after the game. He’s good: Rose leads all point guards in 3-point field goal percentage and is averaging his most points per game since 2012 and effectively shooting the best mark of his career.
After the game Rose reflected more on his time in Chicago, telling reporters how his time here as a 22-year-old superstar made him grow up. That foundation, he said, was the building block for when he suffered injury after injury, saw the detractors and doubters multiply when it looked like his career was over, and get tossed around in trades for guys like Jerian Grant and Rodney Hood.
“It’s all about adapting and being resilient and just being myself,” he said. “I’m happy I didn’t change throughout this whole process. I remained myself, and there was a lot of people that jumped off the boat when I was going through things and I seen who they were and I know what’s fake love and what’s real love.”
Wednesday night he got real love from the fans who had been there since the start.
The Timberwolves wore their Prince-inspired purple City Edition uniforms on Wednesday. But Rose was wearing Chicago on his sleeve from the opening tip.
He’s only just beginning the rest of his career, but for one night in Chicago he took everybody back to 2011 for one more gravity-defying ride.
“The big thing with Derrick is I think he’s on his way again,” Thibodeau said. “Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end and I think his end is going to be great.”