Los Angeles Lakers youngster Talen Horton-Tucker and New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose are both from Chicago, and their relationship goes back a ways. Tuesday night in Los Angeles, THT and Rose engaged in a duel as their respective teams went to overtime in a thrilling game.
It looked like Rose was going to walk away the victor after he made several key defensive plays against Horton-Tucker. However, THT got the last laugh, burying the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds of the extra period to give the Lakers the crucial 101-99 victory.
After the game, Horton-Tucker opened up on his special relationship with Rose:
Talen Horton-Tucker has known Derrick Rose for a long time, going to his camps as a kid and now texting and keeping a friendly relationship in the NBA. On the court, Rose flips a switch: "He's always keeping it competitive when we're on the court, and I'm just trying to learn."
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) May 12, 2021
THT even had a rather hilarious anecdote about the first time he met Rose at a store signing:
Talen Horton-Tucker grew up idolizing Rose, meeting him for the first time at a store signing when the Chicago native was the No. 1 overall pick of the Bulls. Rose gave him a free basketball.@billoram: "Do you still have it?"
THT: "No, it's adidas."
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) May 12, 2021
With LeBron James and Dennis Schroder already out for the Lakers and then Alex Caruso leaving Tuesday's game with an injury, Talen Horton-Tucker was pressed into a major role off the bench. The youngster played 34 minutes and recorded 13 points and 10 assists. While he also had seven turnovers, with Rose forcing several in crunch time, he never got down and had the balls to bury the game-winning triple, which wasn't exactly an easy shot.
Meanwhile, Rose continued his sterling play off the bench. The Chicago legend had 27 points, six rebounds and six assists in 39 minutes as Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau rode him hard down the stretch. Starting point guard Elfrid Payton only played 14 minutes, with two stints at the start of each half.
This was a big games with playoff implications. The Lakers got a key win in their attempt to avoid the play-in tournament, moving to a game back of the Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks with a 39-30 record. The Knicks fell to the No. 6 seed in the East, but they share the same 38-31 record as the fourth-seeded Atlanta Hawks and fifth-seeded Miami Heat.
Talen Horton-Tucker and Derrick Rose will look to make a big impact in the final games of the regular season and into the playoffs as they represent Chicago.
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