J-Speaks: Career Scoring Night for 2011 NBA Kia MVP

On Wednesday night the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN was simply electric. Not because All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had a great performance or that Andrew Wiggins had a solid performance after missing a couple of games because of injury. A former Chicago Bull who played for their current head coach Tom Thibodeau in the “Windy City” had a career night that reminded people of how he was one of the top players in “The Association” at one time. 

Reserve guard Derrick Rose scored 15 of his career-high 50 points in a vintage performance that helped guide the Timberwolves (4-4) to a 128-125 win in overtime on Wednesday night versus the Utah Jazz (4-3). 

Rose, 30 fell five points shy of the franchise mark of set by Towns, who scored 56 points in leading the T’Wolves to a 126-114 win versus the Atlanta Hawks on Mar. 28 of last season, 

Rose became just the fifth player in franchise history to score 50-plus points joining All-Star Kevin Love, now with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who scored 51 points in a 149-140 double-overtime loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder on Mar. 23, 2012. Corey Brewer also scored 51 points in a the T’Wolves 112-110 win versus the Houston Rockets on Apr. 11, 2014. Former lead guard Mo Williams had a career-high of 52 points in the team’s 110-101 win at the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 13, 2015.   

At the final buzzer all his teammates swarmed the court and doused him with water in the locker room after the win showing their love and respect to a guy that since becoming the youngest player to win Kia MVP back in 2011 has had to deal with not just injuries but has had to repair himself mentally from the stresses of having to come back from those injuries. 

Rose was so overwhelmed by his performance on Wednesday night that he was in tears after the game during his postgame interview with FOX Sports North’s Lea B. Olsen. 

“I’m doing anything just to win man,” Rose, who scored 19 points in the third quarter as he started in place of All-Star and his former Bulls teammate Jimmy Butler because of rest said to her and the remainder of the audience after the win. “I played my heart out. My teammates told me before the game just to play my game and tonight was a hell of a night.” 

Derailed by injuries for the past few years, Rose walked off the Target Center floor serenaded by chants of “MVP! MVP!” from the home crowd 10,079 in attendance. 

The 2011 Kia MVP, who was the youngest in NBA history to win the league’s highest individual honor at age 23 was 19 for 31 from the floor, the most shots he attempted and made in his career. That including 4 for 7 from three-point range, which tied the highest number of triples he made since January 2015. He did all of this in 41 minutes of game action, his most since February 2017. 

It was not just the fact how efficiently he scored 50 but how Rose did it. He was attacking the basket at a volume he did in the early part of his career, where he earned league MVP. His crossover dribble was as good as ever as he used it to get by defenders in his wake. 

One of his corner triples that he canned came at a very important juncture of the fourth period that kept the T’Wolves within striking distance. 

One another play late in the game he drove to the hoop, faked Jazz starting center Rudy Gobert, last season’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year out of shoes with a pass and scored on a layup that put the T’Wolves on the high side of the scoreboard for good, and made two free throws late to give his squad up by three moments later with 13.8 left in the extra frame. 

Then in the final seconds of the overtime blocked the potential game-tying three-pointer by reserve guard Dante Exum. 

The Chicago, IL native earned a lot of praise not just from his teammates and head coach, who he had with the Bulls in Thibodeau but from across “The Association.”

Thibodeau, who is also the T’Wolves President of Basketball Operations said Rose “has courage.” 

He added, “He has humility and he has character. He’s been through a lot of adversity. He’s maybe one of the most mentally tough people I’ve ever come across.” 

Four-time Kia MVP in Los Angeles Lakers’ perennial All-Star forward LeBron James said via Instagram kingjames, “So extremely HAPPY AND PROUD of you bro!!! I seen it first hand how much you worked and dedicated on your body, craft, mind, etc etc just to play 1 game at a time! Perseverance is a mutha and this is the ABSOLUTE perfect definition of it!! Salute Bro! #DRoseforPresident “hand praising-emoji.” 

He added after the Lakers 114-113 win versus the Dallas Mavericks on Halloween night, “For him to set a career-high tonight in a win in Minnesota I think that’s unbelievable.”

Players who have played with or against Rose shouted out his performance on social media like Miami Heat All-Star guard and three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade said via social media @DwyaneWade, “Every Basketball fan in the world should feel good for DRose. Tonite was an example of never giving up on yourself and when others believe in you. Amazing things can happen. I’m smiling like I scored 50! Congrts to a good dude. 

Cleveland Cavaliers guard and former teammates last season JR Smith said @TheRealJRSmith, “I’m so proud of you bro! No one knows you’re struggle what you went through day in an[d] day out! You are truly inspiration to everyone! Super proud to have had you as a teammate! Keep going…" 

Fellow Cavs’ former teammate Tristan Thompson said @RealTristan13, “@drose LEGENDARY!!!!! Happy for you bro!!!!!” 

Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT color analyst Reggie Miller @ReggieMillerTNT said, “This is what makes sports GREAT. The genuine ‘Heart-emoji’and appreciation for Derrick Rose teammates have for him is fantastic. Happy for this young man. #DONTCALLitComeback.” 

Two-time Kia MVP and three-time champion with the back-to-back defending Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry @StephenCurry30 said, “This is so dope Man! Can’t imagine the down days, weeks, months, and years he went through. 50 ball!! So much respect bro ‘hand praising emojis.’” 

As great of a performance Rose had, there was a mad scramble to put into context what it meant in a larger narrative, which is where things really get tricky.

There were plenty of people trying to wrap this performance as the moment that would heel the great divide in the T’Wolves fractured season that began with Butler asking for a trade from a team that he lost a lot of faith in because they put their eggs in the basket of Towns and Wiggins, who Butler feels have not risen their play to the kind of level that he and Coach Thibodeau feel is necessary to win at an elite level. 

Then there is the narrative of redemption about how much Rose overcame and persevered through to just get back on the court. 

It is true that Rose has overcome a horrific and to some extent heartbreaking number of injuries like the one to his knee he sustained in Game 1 of the 2012 opening round of the playoffs versus the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth period that changed the course of his career and of the Bulls who were thinking championship at that time. 

On two occasions with the New York Knicks four years ago and with the Cavaliers last season he took time away unsure of if he wanted to continue even playing basketball. On both occasions he came back. 

Then there is the absolute fact that Rose two years was accused of participating in a gang rape, where he was found in that civil trail not liable for the criminal act. 

That said, a lot of the testimony that Rose gave was jaw dropping and troubling, and as host of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN Rachel Nichols point out on the Thursday edition of her show how many analysts tried to bring up that moment and gloss over it as something Rose “went through was cringe inducing to say the least.” 

She added, “Personally, I think its okay to get excited about what Derrick Rose did on that basketball court last night. I also think it’s okay to talk in real terms about what he’s done off it. Both the good and the bad.” 

On Wednesday night, we saw a former Kia MVP in Derrick Rose have a flash back that reminded us how good of player he once was and has displayed in flashes this season with the Timberwolves. We also saw the kind of respect he has not just from his current teammates, which include former Bulls in Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, and head coach Tom Thibodeau. 

What was also on display the reality of a player that we can never separate some of the tough parts he has had to deal with in his life just because they leave a serious lump in our throats. 

Rose despite that one black mark on the resume of his life has also bounced back to where he has earned the respect of as mentioned former and current teammates, his opponents, and coaches, and continued to write his story. 

On top of that, the Timberwolves themselves will not be whole until either they decide they will trade Butler if the right deal comes their way or they will see about what they can do when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. 

In the meantime, for the team to make anything of this season, Karl-Anthony Towns, who signed a five-year, $190 million contract extension over the summer and Andrew Wiggins simply have to play at a high level on both ends. 

Towns putting up 28 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals in two block shots like he did on Wednesday night versus the Jazz, which followed his performance of 25 points, another 16 boards, six assists and four blocks in the team’s 124-120 win versus the Lakers (3-5) on Monday night has to be consistent. 

The Timberwolves have the talent to be a solid team in the stacked Western Conference but they have to bring it consistently if they want to make the playoffs for a second straight season. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 11/1/18 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Stan Van Gundy, and Chauncey Billups; 11/1/18 6:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “10 Before Tip,” presented by Ford with Jared Greenberg; 11/1/18 www.nba.com story, “Some Numbers To Know from Rose’s 50-Point Game;” www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=401070788; www.nba.com/games/20181031/UTAMIN#/recap; www.espn.com/nba/standings; and https://stats.nba.com/game.