A week and a half since Derrick Rose helped carry the Chicago Bulls back from 18 points down to win against the Miami Heat in Chicago, he cemented his claim to the NBA MVP award with his play and leadership in bringing the Bulls back from a 12 point deficit to another victory over the Heat.
Check out this amazing play where Derrick Rose takes it in with Jordan-like killer instinct and scores on both Dwayne Wade and Dwayne Wade's Sidekick:
Despite the Bulls clawing way back and finally taking the lead from Miami about midway through the 4th quarter, the Miami Heat stayed close mostly because of Dwayne Wade's efforts. Wade had 9 of his 20 points in the fourth to keep the Heat close.
Rose put up 8 points of his own in the final quarter, and the Bulls went into the final possession with a 1 point lead.
It was deja vu for the Heat, who had lost 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5 games. Three of their losses were decided on the final possession of the game, where they were unable to come through with a score.
Lebron got the ball at the top of the key, defended by Joakim Noah. Lebron drove and put up a contested shot that hit high off the backboard. Wade came up with the rebound and put up a short jumper but also missed.
This has been an amazing weekend for the Bulls, who won a great game against Orlando two days ago. And recently, Hollinger put out his statistical analyses that not only supported the Bulls not making a move at the trade deadline (and keeping Omer Asik and Taj Gibson) but also revealing that the Bulls have the best statistical chance of reaching the NBA Finals from the Eastern Conference.
Chicago fans are too down to earth for such things to get their hopes too high, but they are all united in the Derrick Rose for MVP sentiment.
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| With another victory over Sidekick and the Heat, Rose has the swagger of an MVP. |
He has now taken a team that was thought to be about the 4th or 5th best team in the Eastern Conference and has them in sole possession of the 2nd seed in the East behind Boston. And he has managed to do this with Carlos Boozer missing a month at the beginning of the season and Joakim Noah missing nearly two months for surgery, as well.
For all these reasons, most true fans of the game of basketball acknowledge that Derrick Rose is the most deserving of the NBA MVP, and at this point, he has another statistic in his favor against his closest competitor: a three game sweep of the regular season series over the Heat and coming through when his team needed him the most.
