Detroit Pistons: NBC Sports Chicago airs ‘D Rose Week’

Chicago’s NBC television affiliate has been airing Detroit Pistons guard Derrick Rose’s best moments as a Chicago Bull this week.

As ‘D Rose Week’ airs on NBC Sports Chicago, Detroit Pistons fans who have embraced Derrick Rose can relive the MVP player that Rose once was compared to Pistons Rose who fought through a storm of injuries to become the polished player he is today.

Wednesday’s game featured a treat for Pistons faithful with a throwback of Pistons vs. Bulls on Oct. 30, 2010.  The Bulls got the better of Detroit behind Rose’s 39 points, but Pistons fans can relive watching Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and company.

Thursday night re-airs Rose’s step-back dagger to down the Milwaukee Bucks on March 7, 2012, followed by another re-air of Bulls vs. Bucks on Friday night.

Pistons faithful have been accustomed to watching natives from their rival city of Chicago don motor city threads to play ‘hometown villain’ against the Bulls.  Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguire know the feeling all too well in the age of the Bad Boys staving off Michael Jordan and the Bulls.

Derrick Rose’s story is two-fold in that the son of Chicago went from playing for his hometown Bulls to joining their Central Division rivals in his resurgence.

The Pistons inherited a player with a history on top of the league to the bottom and back after a career-high 50-point performance on Halloween night in 2018.  As a Piston, Rose has provided numerous flashes of his former MVP play, highlighted by two electric game-winners against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns.

Rose also showed fans just a little bit of how he used to live above the rim with two rim-grazing dunks against the Bulls in his return to the United Center.  Additionally, Rose who operates with a ‘I’ll show you’ (title of autobiography) mentality, proved he could take it to another level with an off-the-backboard alley oop to himself pre-game vs. Orlando on Feb. 12, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojqy5LOFRGw

Fans have seldom seen Rose dunk in-game since his MVP years, but in Rose’s way he showed that he still has it after four knee surgeries.

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Rose said in his autobiography, “I hadn’t [dunked] in a long time.  It was just the fact of me being stubborn.  I kept hearing people talk about dunking.  ‘Dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk.’ Like, what?  I know I’m way more than just a dunker.  ‘You think that’s basketball, huh?’”

Detroit has the opportunity to see the fine-tuned version of Rose, who fought through five major surgeries to average 18.8 points per game and dish out 5.6 assists per contest in the 2019-20 season.

Both serve as the highest averages since his post-MVP season in just 26 minutes per game, along with a career-high 49 percent field goal percentage. Though he was rumored to be on the trading block at the deadline this season, he remained with Detroit.

From the highest highs of NBA stardom to the lowest lows of injury after injury, Rose has persevered through to return at an elite level.  ‘D Rose Week’ is a rare instance of Pistons and Bulls fans coming together to enjoy the good ‘ol days.