The hardest part is pinpointing what a moment truly is when you see it, what it actually means in the grand scheme of things.
Derrick Rose’s game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-point shot in Game 3 of the Chicago Bulls’ playoff series with Cleveland on Friday night was at the very least one thing: a game-winning shot. But that guarantees nothing beyond what just took place, which was the Bulls winning a game and taking a 2-1 series lead over the Cavaliers.
And yet it could be so much more.
It had that feel.
We’d not seen Rose — the real Derrick Rose, the MVP-caliber Derrick Rose — since, well, he won the MVP. Knee injuries robbed season after season. His outlook on just how important basketball really was in life was altered as well.
Basketball mattered, it always would, but to a point.
“I’m thinking about long term,” Rose said last November. “I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to. I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my son’s graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past.”
And you would swear you saw that quote in the way he played. The reckless abandon was gone. The relentless attacks on the rim were dialed back — and, seemingly with it, some of that edge that was a constant trademark of his game.
What if a great player only kind of wanted to be great?
This is the question that constantly surrounded Rose. We held our breath every time he hit the floor. We shook our heads in that “You remember when he was truly great?” movement that accompanies the wish that the player would return to the guy we used to know.
In the run-up to Game 3, there was more kryptonite being discussed about the state of his game. When he had two days or more of rest, Rose’s numbers were dramatically better than when he had one day. Days off between games didn’t matter for the Old Rose. But they were a big deal for this New Rose.
And then … bank, swish.
Rose trotted down the court and celebrated with Joakim Noah. Fitting that Rose first found the man who has publicly had his back more than any other during his entire injury-riddled ordeal. Rose held back a smile. Then he let one crack.
But is he back? Truly back?
He had scored 30 points after one day of rest to put that narrative to rest. He had just done what star players — great players — do: beat Le- Bron James at the buzzer of a playoff game his team had to win. That’s what Rose did. That’s what he had done before. That’s what we always knew he still had within him.
Where he goes from here tells the tale. Rose is a forever changed player. There’s no getting around that fact. His role on the Bulls is even redefined: He is no longer required to be the team’s everything in order for it to win on any given night.
But he could return to greatness.
Is that ultimately what that banked-in 3-pointer will mean? Does it lift his confidence back to the level it once was? Does it lift his killer instinct back to the levels that once made him the most feared scoring point guard in the NBA? These are the questions, starting Sunday, that this series will continue to answer.
We’ve been waiting for Derrick Rose.
Maybe, just maybe, our wait is over.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey @denverpost.com or dempseypost
