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No one expected it and no one could have predicted what would happen in the game tonight between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz. With leading scorer Jimmy Butler (22.5 points) sitting out the game to rest, there was a gaping hole in the offense that needed to be filled. Starting point guard Derrick Rose decided he would fill it up and then some.
Rose exploded for 50 points in a scintillating performance reminiscent of his MVP year with the Chicago Bulls in the 2010-11 season. He was simply unstoppable as he took over the offense for the Timberwolves down the stretch.
At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be a clear reason as to why the Timberwolves star has been playing differently these days. But here are two major reasons why Rose is playing better than he has the past few seasons:
1. A Healthy Summer
For many years, Rose had been sidelined by various nagging injuries. After the mountaintop experience of owning one of the most coveted individual awards the league has to offer, it had been mostly downhill for him since then. From playing 78 to 81 games during his first three years, Rose had missed 237 games the past six years while playing for four different teams.
During his brief stint with the 2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers, Rose had to take time off again due to an injury last November.
“I wasn’t able to run for a couple of weeks, and that’s why I took the break, because I didn’t know what was wrong,” Rose told Shams Charania of The Athletic recently. “People were saying, ‘You got a bone spur, everybody got bone spurs.’ I ain’t everybody. I just found this out, fam. And my body is not like y’all. I got to do three or four times the recovery that y’all do just because of my speed and how explosive I am. And if I would’ve learned that my rookie year, I would’ve treated my body different. I didn’t learn all of that until rehab when I had to do all that much recovery because my body was different than everybody, bro.”
Now with the Timberwolves, Rose came to training camp healthy and ready to play.
“I feel healthy and I want to look healthy,” Rose said. “Right now, just like in anything in life, you miss something for a long time and you get something taken away from you, it’s going to take some time to get a rhythm back.”
That rhythm that Rose is looking for appears to have made a comeback this season. After dropping 50 points against the Jazz, Rose is now averaging 18.8 points per contest, making him the team’s third-leading scorer behind only Butler and Timberwolves franchise center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Not only does he look healthy, but Rose is also as healthy as he’s ever been.
2 Coach Thibs' and the Players’ Trust
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Rose came back to the Timberwolves to be around people he’s familiar with. His former Bulls coach, Tom Thibodeau, calls the shots from the sidelines and the lineup is littered with teammates from his early years in the league. Former Bulls players include Butler, Taj Gibson, and Luol Deng who are now plying their trade in the Twin Cities. These players looked up to Rose during their time in Chicago and they continue to give him their trust now.
Rose rewarded their trust with a big game against the Dallas Mavericks last week. Despite the loss, he gave fans a preview of what was to come in Utah when he scored 28 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists, one block, and two steals.
According to Jace Frederick of TwinCities.com, Thibodeau told reporters later how good he believes Rose can be:
“To do the things that he’s done, it says a lot about who he is,” Thobodeau said. “As long as he’s healthy, he’ll be one of the best players in the league.”
Gibson added:
“The thing about it, I see it all the time in practice, it’s just a matter of just getting into the game,” Gibson said. “We believe in him, and we understand that we’re going to count on him a lot. … People don’t understand, when you’re back with familiar faces and coaches that believe in you, it ups your game a whole lot better, and I’m just happy that he’s playing at a high level right now.”
Rose’s shredded the Jazz defense Wednesday night as if it wasn’t there. That’s the highest level he has reached in a long while and we’re only two weeks into the season. If he keeps this up, Rose may finally get back to being an All-Star.
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. The season is long and anything can happen. However, this year feels different for Rose.
This time, it looks like he’s back to being D-Rose.
