CHICAGO -- A few minutes before walking out of the visitors locker room at the United Center, Derrick Rose slipped on a black sweatshirt that read “Life Is Good” in bold letters.

The messaging was appropriate on many levels.

Life was good for Rose on Friday because he was victorious in his first trip back to Chicago.

Life was good because he played his best game of the season in front of dozens of friends and family -- some of whom he hadn't seen in months.

And maybe most important, life was good on Friday because Rose and the New York Knicks started to develop some much-needed cohesion on offense in a 117-104 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

“We were trying to figure things out when we was out there. We was talking to one another, communicating,” Rose said. “This is our fifth game. It’s all about catching that rhythm.”

Derrick Rose was welcomed home by fans in his Chicago hometown after putting on a show in a Knicks win on Friday. AP Photo/Matt Marton

The rhythm was there most of the night for Rose. He finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and a season-high 11 assists. It was easily Rose’s best performance of the young season, and it was a crucial one for New York.

The new-look Knicks had dropped two straight, which in New York can sometimes feel like a 20-game losing streak. There were public comments from coaches and players dissecting the club’s poor effort on defense, its disarray on offense and a general lack of cohesion.

As Carmelo Anthony pointed out before the game in Chicago, a bad loss might have pushed the Knicks down a bad path, as unreasonable as that sounds entering game No. 5:

“It’s a fine line of controlling yourself, getting frustrated sometimes and understanding kind of the situation that we’re in,” Anthony said.

Things were easier to understand for the Knicks on Friday, thanks to Rose and Joakim Noah (16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals). The play of Courtney Lee (17 points, 8-for-10 shooting) and Kristaps Porzingis (27 points, 10-for-15 shooting) also helped. The Knicks ran their offense through Porzingis on several possessions and defended well for large stretches of the game.

But more often than not, Rose was the catalyst for New York. He handed out five of his 11 assists in the fourth quarter of a close game. Rose said he adjusted his approach in the second half, looking to pass on drives more often after noticing that Chicago was challenging him at the rim early on.

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“The great thing about this sport is you’re forced to figure it out,” he said.

Rose figured it out amid some hostile treatment from the home crowd early on. He heard some boos during introductions and after his first few touches of the game -- his first visit to the Windy City as a Knick.

But Bulls fans softened up a bit during a video tribute to both Rose and Noah in the first quarter; a pocket of fans later yelled, "We still love you, Derrick," to Rose as he rode a stationary bike. Rose, a Chicago native, politely nodded while pedaling away. Rose also peeked at the JumboTron to watch the video tribute, but Noah quickly told him to keep his focus on the game.

“I listened to my big brother,” Rose said with a laugh.

About an hour and a half later, Rose and his "big brother" checked out of the game together, with the win in their pockets. As they walked to the bench, Noah playfully slapped Rose on the back of the head -- a very big-brother move -- to celebrate the victory.

“We love winning. That’s the key. Winning is everything for us,” Rose said when asked to describe the moment. “We’re trying to build that culture along with the great players that we have here.”

Rose has mentioned that phrase -- building a culture -- several times during the Knicks’ slow start. It’s code for remaining patient, something that some Knicks fans aren’t accustomed to. The club struggled in three of its first four games, in part because Rose missed two weeks of training camp -- valuable time to develop cohesion in a new offense. He’s now catching up on the fly, and Friday was a sign of progress.

“All this takes time,” Rose said afterward. “Us moving the ball, us spreading the floor, the spacing of everyone, me having the patience to wait until everyone gets in the spots before we actually run the offense ... it takes time."

Whether the Knicks eventually figure things out on both ends of the floor is an open question at this point. If they do, they should compete for a playoff spot in the East. And if Rose continues to play as he did on Friday, he will probably be sought after in free agency this summer. But those are all issues for another day.

On Friday night, the message on Rose’s sweatshirt summed things up well. For the point guard from Chicago and his new team in New York, life was good.