“I do not work backward like you guys do. The score was heading the other way. He’s got to play. Derrick has to work on finishing, on closing. Our team did not handle that part great. That’s what I was thinking.”
This was the terse response of Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau in response to questions regarding his decision to keep reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose in the game against the Philadelphia 76ers despite the fact that the Bulls had a double-digit lead with just over a minute remaining in Game One of their first-round playoff match-up. There is a popular saying in basketball that players win games and coaches lose them. But in this case, the Bulls just may have lost a chance at a title, and face the possibility that Rose may not be the same player he was prior to the injury when he comes back next season.
Chicago was leading Philadelphia by 15 when Rose checked in between two Sixer free throws at the 7:53 mark. The lead even ballooned to 20 points twice, the last time at 95-75 with 4:36 remaining. Philly scored six straight points to cut the lead to 14 before Chicago could respond. In that span, Rose racked up his fifth turnover and missed a jump shot.
At the time Rose tore his knee, the Bulls were up by 12. The Sixers got as close as 89-99 right after he went out with 1:10 left on the clock. Thanks to Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, Chicago righted itself and preserved the win.
Most coaches normally put their starters back into the game for roughly the last eight minutes, assuming the match isn’t a blowout. In this case, Philadelphia made a run when Rose was already on the floor, so taking him out would have been risky, at best. In the playoffs, even if the Sixers had lost, being able to chew up double-digit leads (as they had done in the first half) would have given them confidence to shrug off the loss.
Rose had already missed 27 games due to a variety of injuries to his toe, back foot, groin and ankle. He wasn’t going to hold back at this point. He was trying to show leadership, especially after a mediocre first half. More importantly, he was playing with full confidence that all the doctors had had seen the past months had done their job and made him stronger than before.
What makes this so heart-breaking for Chicago fans is that they have seen this before, in the not-too-distant past.
After the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen era, the Bulls went through a long dry spell, not getting anywhere near a championship run for a decade. Then in 2002 with the second pick overall, the Bulls chose spectacular guard Jay Williams out of Duke. As a college freshman, Wlliams averaged an impressive 14.5 points and 6.5 assists per game. With a very young core, Bulls fans were looking at a quick upswing in their fortunes, built around the gifted point guard. But, in a horribly bad choice at the end of a frustrating rookie season, Williams got on a motorcycle, mistakenly revved it up thinking he was working the brakes, and wrapped himself around a lamppost.
Williams himself told this writer a year later that when he opened his eyes, he saw the doctors looking at him in shock. It took a team of 16 surgeons to put him back together again. He was in the middle of a three-year, $16.14 million contract with Chicago. Williams agreed to a buy-out in 2004.
Putting this past disappointment behind them, Bulls fans had very high hopes the Bulls would eventually get past the Miami Heat in the East, among others, and make the Finals. Now, they are going to quesion Tom Thibodeau for a very long time.
To be fair, Thibodeau has been Coach of the Year and Eastern Conference All-Stars coach. He has been coaching for seven NBA franchises. He turned the Bulls into the stingiest defensive team in the NBA. He took them into the playoffs even though their best player was only there half the time. And he is standing by his decision. What else would he do?
In the hours after Rose went down, the Bulls organization has, from top to bottom, backed up their head coach. Bigger leads have evaporated in less time, and he was considering other factors. But the team also made another statement, worded properly by Noah, “We are a team. We play defense, we rebound. We want Derrick on the floor, but we know we are capable.”
We’ll find out in Game 2.