Derrick Rose is supposed to be too old for that. There is supposed to be too much wear on the tires. The engine is not supposed to jump and hum just like before. And he’s certainly not supposed to be the most important basketball player in the most important moments of a game.
Still, he was in the garden on Sunday afternoon. The Knicks had already flown every ounce of a 14-point lead over the Pelicans and then some, fixing a seven-point hole, less than three minutes to go, their streak of five-game wins very well. endangered, 2,000 fans wonder if they should try to sneak to the ground floor to go home by train soon.
Except there was Derrick Rose, 32, who said, “Wait.”
“He’s a dog,” Julius Randle would later say, in a voice dripping with respect. “He’s a winner.”
And even now, it’s not just reputation, not just old low-definition video tapes and yellow newspaper clippings. He threw a free kick to make six. Do a 6-foot walk to make four. He dropped 3, 90 seconds remaining, to sneak the Knicks within 101-98.
And then, with 7.8 seconds of regulation, down 3, Rose reminded the world why she has spent time in her life as the top punctual guard on the planet. Even elite pointers sometimes forget how much time they can spend 7.8 seconds, sometimes they panic and panic and throw a special hero ball. You see it every night.
Rose’s first choice, Randle on the corner, was covered. The seconds melted. He started driving, with enough ferocity that Lonzo Ball thought he was serious, and left Reggie Bullock in the corner. More seconds were melted, but there are still many left. Few point guards remember it at the moment. Rose did. Seeing the opening, he hit Bullock in the corner. Bullock did his job, sending the game into overtime.
Twenty minutes later, the Knicks came out on top 122-112.
“That’s what Derrick has always been,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said at the end of the game, which the Knicks improved to 31-27. “He is a great teammate, he always puts the team first, he has had a hellish career. Aside from the times he hasn’t been healthy, this is who he is. No moment is too big for him. “
The whole day had felt like an extended party in the garden an interactive treat for the people of the house. There was a second Randle-Zion Williamson clash in a week, which came in a draw. All the old sound standards were shown.
“M! V! P! ” they chanted Randle.
When Randle’s wing man would do something they joined the PA man: “R! J! BARRETT! ”
When a stop was needed, the old standby mode arrived: “Deee-FENSE! Deee-FENSE! ”
When officials became involved: “REF! YOU! [STINK]! REF! YOU! [STINK]! ”
The Knicks weren’t always great, but they were always the 2021 Knicks, tough and small. There was a notable moment in VT, when Brandon Ingram of New Orleans rose for a dive but was intercepted by Knicks’ Nerlens Noel, who turned down the jam and then fell hard on the court, looking wounded.
In an instant, four of Noel’s teammates jumped off the bench and lifted him to his feet: all the while the game continued at the opposite end of the court. This is probably not 100% legal, but people loved it. And Noel ended up running to join his teammates once he got to his feet.
Still, it was Rose who completed the day, even in the free basketball part, stealing the ball from Ingram in the first possession of the O Pelicans movie and hitting the piloting disposition he gave the Knicks the ultimate leadership.
“I don’t have to do much,” Rose said when her 35-minute day, 23 points, five assists and 22 more appeared in the books. “Back in Chicago, I always had pressure on myself. Now I just see what the game needs.
Thibodeau, of course, was there in Chicago when Rose was at her peak, when she won an MVP, when she was the basketball equivalent of the kid with a 99 mph fast ball that just overflowed everyone and never went having to learn the art of throwing. Rose is now a pitcher and artist, and her coach is as delighted with what becomes of her old star as anyone else.
“In the beginning, as with most players, he did it with talent,” Thibodeau said. “I did not have the experience I have now. Now he combines the mental part with the talent and has a different type of player ”.
“He always does the right reading,” Bullock said.
Rose said: “I haven’t had a winning streak like this in a long time. I’m enjoying it. “
Sunday afternoon in the garden, looking for some old magic molecules, Derrick Rose simply decided he wasn’t having fun yet. You’re never too old for that.