Top Ten Derrick Rose games

Last night wasn’t one of Derrick Rose’s best performances, but as long as he stays healthy, he looks like a future star in this league for years to come. While this list 15 years from now won’t come close to comparing to this guy’s, Rose will likely finish his career as the second or third best player in the Bulls’ franchise history. These are his top ten all-time games, including his high school and college years.

10. vs. Thornton state quarterfinals March 2007 After making the game-winning shot as a junior to win the state title, Rose showed that he and Simeon were in a class by themselves in their first game downstate the next year. It’s rare you see a high school player come close to a triple-double in a downstate playoff game, but that’s what Rose almost did, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. And that’s with him sitting out the entire fourth quarter because Simeon was up big.

9. at Utah Nov. 24
This game was a sign of things to come for Rose. In the first of several clutch fourth-quarter performances, Rose made a number of huge shots late to keep the Bulls in the game, scoring 12 of his 25 points in the period. The only shot he missed in the fourth turned out perfectly: the ball bounced right to Larry Hughes and he hit the game-winner at the buzzer.

8. vs. Texas Elite Eight This was billed as a matchup of the country’s top two point guards in Rose and D.J. Augustine. It was hardly a fair fight, as Rose’s size and strength was way too much for anyone Texas tried to throw at him. In leading Memphis to the Final Four in a rout, Rose had a great all-around game, scoring 21 points to go with nine assists and six rebounds. He was even better the next weekend (see below).

7. vs. Atlanta Nov. 11 Although it came in a losing effort, Rose’s 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists represented his first real breakout game as a pro. This marked the start of a strong stretch of games for Rose, who would go on to average over 19 points on 50% shooting from the floor during the month of November.

6. at Detroit April 13
In a game the Bulls desperately needed to win to avoid the dreaded eight-seed and a matchup with the Cleveland LeBrons, Rose took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 24 points. The biggest play came when Rose went the length of the floor to complete a three-point play to tie the game with 42 seconds left. Then, Rose, who also had eight assists and six rebounds, made a big play on defense, blocking a shot to get the Bulls the ball back, and they eventually took the lead on a basket by Ben Gordon.

5. vs. Houston Feb. 28 With his team trailing by 17 points with just under six minutes left, Rose simply took over the game, scoring 13 of the team’s final 23 points as the Bulls ended the game on a 23-3 run. Despite being hounded by Ron Artest, Rose muscled into the lane and made a very tough shot to complete the comeback, giving the Bulls a 104-102 lead with 32 seconds left. He finished the night with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

4. vs. Oak Hill Academy Jan. 2007
Facing the nation’s top-ranked team that featured notable players such as Brandon Jennings, Alex Legion and Nolan Smith, Rose stole the show. He scored 28 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists in leading Simeon to a 78-75 upset. Because the game was televised nationally on ESPN, the whole country got to find out just how good Rose was.

3. at Toronto Jan. 14
In the fourth quarter, Rose was just plain ridiculous, scoring 17 of his 25 points in helping the Bulls come from behind. Luol Deng, (remember him?) said afterward about Rose: “Just give him the ball and get out of the way.” Rose also added 10 assists, and who knows, maybe this game will be in the back of Chris Bosh’s mind when he thinks about where he wants to play once he becomes a free agent in 2010.

2. vs. UCLA Final Four When the stage got brighter, Rose took his game to a whole other level. Against a very good UCLA team that had three players start in the league this year as rookies, Rose made this game his NBA audition by going for 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists. He also held Bruins star point guard Darren Collison to just two points. In the tournament, Rose was spectacular, averaging 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in the six games.

1. at Boston Game 1 Afterwards, Rose characterized his performance as “decent.” That’s like Michael Jordan saying he had a “pretty good” career. Rose will be in a lot more playoff games in his career, but it will be tough to ever top this one. Maybe the two most impressive things from Rose’s game was his going 12-of-12 from the free-throw line as well as making big shot after big shot in the third quarter when the Celtics made their run.