Derrick Rose strode into Madison Square Garden looking to show all the folks in the city that is a breeding ground of great point guards that a Chicago kid could match crossover moves with Earl “the Pearl” Monroe, Nate Archibald and Kenny Smith.
But despite putting on quite a show in the Nike Super 6, Rose was down on himself for taking what he described as a “stupid shot.”
“I’ll take the blame–it was my fault we lost,” Rose said about Simeon’s 53-51 loss to legendary New York power Rice in the marquee game of Sunday’s tripleheader.
But it was Rose’s 22 points and seven rebounds that gave Simeon (11-2) a chance after the Wolverines scored just six points in the first quarter.
A pair of crowd-pleasing three-point plays ignited a fourth-quarter Simeon surge. The second one gave Simeon its first lead, 47-46, with 1 minute 33 seconds left.
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It was 20 seconds later that Rose drove baseline and shot a fadeaway 5-footer from a bad angle that hit the bottom of the backboard.
After Rice (11-2) went back ahead 50-47, Rose scored again on a swooping one-hander with 35 seconds to go.
Rice’s Lamont Jones scored his only basket with 10 seconds left for a 52-49 lead. Simeon sixth man Kenyon Smith scored on a drive and was fouled with 5.3 seconds to go, but the junior guard missed the free throw before Kemba Walker (14 points) hit one of two foul shots.
Rose sounded envious about the crowd support that helped Rice withstand Simeon’s late charge.
“Chicago doesn’t support its teams like the fans in New York do,” Rose said about the Wolverines’ perception of an anti-Simeon sentiment in the city.
Simeon outscored Rice 33-24 in the second half thanks to a 23-10 rebounding advantage. Tim Flowers finished with 14 rebounds and Kevin Johnson had 11 points and eight boards.
“It was like we were a different team in the second half because we played way more aggressive,” Rose said.
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