Today’s game at the United Center, dubbed Derrick Rose Nightincluded a special ceremony honoring the Chicago legend. As a tribute to Rose, both the Bulls (16-19) and New York Knicks (24-12) wore unique D-Rose-inspired t-shirts during pregame warmups. Soon, Derrick will become the fifth Bulls player to have his jersey retired, joining legendary Bulls Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. During his second stint with the Knicks, D-Rose was a spark plug and mentor. Michael Zeno has written a beautiful tribute to him here.

The Knicks suffered a grueling loss last night in Oklahoma City, but showed plenty of energy early on tonight, taking a 72-63 lead into halftime. The long toll at halftime warmed the heart, but the Knicks cooled down in the locker room and showed it, allowing the Bulls to pull off a huge turnaround and win the third quarter by 24 points. In the fourth quarter, New York fell behind by 19 points as they continued to miss and the Chi-Boys continued to catch up. KAT erased the deficit before a knee injury sent him to the locker room. When the dust settled, the Knicks had given up their most points of the season and lost 139-126.

In the first three quarters, Chicago coach Billy Donovan played eleven different players. Tom Thibodeau barely fielded nine players. Sure, his best shooter off the bench, Miles McBride, was unavailable due to a hamstring injury, but it’s disappointing that Jericho Sims, Tyler Kolek and Matt Ryan are unavailable. When this game came late, Josh Hart looked wiped out (two points, 16 points, 10 assists) and Mikal Bridges’ legs developed some shaky quality (he finished the game with 18 points and missed all five three-pointers). Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and spent eight dimes and has to be on an IV while I get this sorted out.

You have to give credit to Karl-Anthony Towns – he put up stat lines of 44 points, 10 points and five assists with absolute performance. He led a comeback until a knee injury down the stretch sent him to the locker room. Say a prayer it’s nothing serious because without him the Knicks would be in serious trouble.

Quote from BingBongRuinedUs: “Coby White: 9 threes. NYK: 8 threes.” No joke. White hit 9 of 11 from deep. New York made 8 of 30. White and Zach Lavine really got going in the second half as the visitors looked drunk and both scored 33 points. Nikola Vučević scored 22 points as the Knicks’ frontcourt lost its legs.

Before the trade deadline last season, it became clear to Leon Rose & Co. that the Knicks were no contenders with RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Quinten Grimes as key pieces. They must have the same concerns right now and recognize that their bank needs serious support. A trade is coming, friends, or I’ll eat my hat.

First half

New York picked up where it left off last night and pivoted away from the jump. They also defended the ball and only had two turnovers in the first quarter. After building a nine-point lead, they cooled off a bit, and to give Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart a break, coach Tom Thibodeau sent in Precious Achiuwa and Landry Shamet for the final four minutes of the frame.

Last night, Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t attempt a three-pointer and Jalen Brunson missed all five of his attempts from distance. Jalen looked better in the first quarter, scoring three-pointers among his 12 points. Meanwhile, Coby White had 10 points for the home team and his buzzer-beater cut the Knicks’ lead to 33-29.

In the second quarter, Mikal Bridges came forward and had his turn to make some shots. He scored 13 points on 6 of 12 shooting in the first half as the Knicks flirted with a four- to seven-point lead. With the score even, three Knicks scored double-digit points in the half, including 17 from Towns and 26 from Brunson. Still, our heroes couldn’t put any significant distance on the scoreboard as their turnovers five seconds into the quarter contributed to a 10-2 Chicago run. Zach LaVine added some highlights to his trade-season mixtape with 20 points in the first half, and the Knicks held the Bulls to within one point before ending the half with a 72-63 lead.

The visitors had won the glass by a four-board lead and the points in the game, 32-24. Of their 25 field goals made, 15 were assisted, and once again the Knicks had excellent ball movement – a weak Chicago defense didn’t hurt. Both teams shot their free throws well, with the Bulls making 11 of 11 and the Knicks hitting 16 of a surprising 18 attempts.

During a lengthy halftime tribute, Joakim Noah spoke fondly of D-Rose and the United Center screened a short film directed by the NBA’s youngest MVP before the man himself addressed the crowd. It was a tasteful affair and befitting the son of Chicago.

Second half

The Knicks must have stiffened up during the extended break, because their sluggish play afterward allowed Chicago to go on a 17-8 run that tied the game. The Knicks shot 0 of 7 from deep in the quarter while the home team shot 7 of 8. Midway through the period, the sluggish Knickerbockers gave up the lead on a Giddey-to-ball alley-oop, and Lavine & White’s show buried it. Disastrous is an understatement. Chicago won the frame 41-15 and entered the final twelve rounds with a 104-89 lead.

Coby White opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and the home team’s lead quickly grew to 19. Despite being gassed, Karl-Anthony Towns refused to give up and helped the Knicks get within six points after six minutes. Landry Shamet contributed significant minutes in the period, hitting a timely corner three-pointer that was cleared due to a foul by Cameron Payne on the play. The shot would have reduced the deficit to five; a few moments later it was ten again.

Without much frontcourt resistance from New York, Nikola Vučević began to dominate, White and LaVine drained three-pointers, and Chicago went ahead by 14 with two minutes left.

KAT injured his knee on a play and hobbled around until Thibs finally sent off Jericho Sims with about two minutes left. With KAT gone, the Knicks’ surrender was complete. Hit the notes.

Notes

• Coby White’s best game to date against the Knicks came on November 12, 2019. He scored 27 points in 27 minutes, set a rookie record with seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and outscored the entire Knicks bench.
• Zach LaVine was teammates with Knicks center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota for two seasons (2015-17).
• Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was Chicago’s head coach for five seasons (2010–15).
• Bulls guard Lonzo Ball was Josh Hart’s teammate with the Lakers from 2017 to 2019.
• New York assistant coach Maurice Cheeks coached with Chicago for four seasons (2020-24) before joining the Knicks.
• The Knicks entered tonight’s game after a loss with a record of 9-1.

Next

The Knicks will be at home on Monday to play the Orlando Magic again. Bon voyage, Knickerbockers.

Box score