The other side of the coin

The Minnesota Timberwolves finally broke through in Game 3 their first-round NBA Western Conference playoff series against the Houston Rockets yesterday. In their first home playoff game since May 29, 2004, the Wolves broke away and held off the off-form Rockets, 121-105. The home team led by as many as 11 midway through the first half, then repeatedly repulsed the visitors who entered the Target Center with a 2-0 series lead. Houston led briefly in the third quarter before things came together for Minnesota, which led by as much as 18 late in the fourth period.

Aside from Jimmy Butler’s heroics (28 points, 5 assists, 7 rebounds), the headline was the awakening of their young center, Karl-Anthony Towns. The 2018 NBA All-Star was a diluted version of himself in the first two games of the series, averaging just over six points a game, over 15 points below his regular season average. After a slow start (no field goal attempt in the first period), Towns gradually got his confidence back. The 22-year old ended the night with a respectable 18 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists. Not bad for someone who was, at one point, already 20th in the league in scoring.

But one of the remarkable stories of the night was the performance of former league MVP Derrick Rose. The former Chicago Bulls Rookie of the Year told anyone who would listen before the game, “I’m back.” Those words seemed almost prophetic, as he scored eight successive points in the second period to finish the half with 10. Sitting out the third quarter due to the great play of Jeff Teague, Rose returned his tear in the fourth, causing turnovers for the Rockets and contributing a total of 17, including a three-pointer that put the game away at 118-102 with only 2:09 remaining. Rose shot 50 percent from the floor, and with the game decided, was subbed out with the starters to raucous applause.

It has been a frustrating career for Rose, who despite his accomplishments, is still considered something of an underachiever. Picked number one overall by the Bulls in 2008, he was considered the key to bringing the Bulls back to respectability after the glory years of the 1990’s. In 2011 at age 22, the spectacularly gifted guard became the youngest player to ever win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. After that, it was as if he had tumbled off a cliff. The following season, Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in the first round of the playoffs. Missing the entire 2012-2013 season. In his comeback early the next season, he tore his right meniscus, and he sat out the entire season for surgery and recovery. Injuries continued to plague his fragile knees until, in 2016, he was traded to a troubled New York Knicks.

Rose bloomed in New York, scoring in double figures on numerous occasions, and registering season highs of 29, 30 and 30 points. Then he tore his right meniscus and needed a fourth round of surgery. So after just one season on a team seeking its identity, Rose was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but was soon traded to the Utah Jazz and subsequently released. To make a long story short, Minnesota is Rose’s third team this calendar year. 

But buried in the two-decade drought since the Michael Jordan era is the story of another outstanding top Bulls pick. You could say he was Derrick Rose before Derrick Rose. 

Jason Williams was selected by Chicago with the second overall pick of the 2002 draft, just behind Yao Ming. A member of the 2001 NCAA champion Duke University Blue Devils, Williams was touted as the franchise’s savior, a smart, strong, powerful guard and natural leader on the court. When he entered the league, he asked to be called “Jay”, to differentiate him from Jason Williams of the Sacramento Kings and Jayson Williams (previously of the New Jersey Nets) who were already established players in the league. 

“We were a whole bunch of rookies. We didn’t know what we were doing,” Williams told this writer before the first NBA China Games in Shanghai in 2004. “A bunch of games were more interested in living the life. We weren’t doing our job on the basketball court.”

After an expected early exit, Williams took a motorcycle for a spin without a helmet or license to drive, in violation of his contract. Mistakenly pressing the accelerator instead of the brakes, he wrapped himself around a lamppost. It took sixteen doctors several hours to put him back together. 

“The look on my parents’ eyes said it all,” Williams recalled to me then. “I knew it was bad. I didn’t know it was that bad.”

After extensive surgery and physical therapy to restore the use of his leg, Williams began an arduous journey back to basketball. In September of 2005, the New Jersey Nets took a chance on Williams, but released him a month later.