Derrick Rose hit a buzzer-beater and the basketball world smiled

Jeff Zillgitt | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Bulls seize momentum on Derrick Rose buzzer-beater USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt breaks down a thrilling Game 3 that ended with Derrick Rose hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Bulls a 99-96 win over the Cavaliers.

CHICAGO — Derrick Rose suppressed the joy he had inside, hiding the fact he had just made his biggest, most important shot in three seasons.

"I see him smile all the time, but he really doesn't show it out in the open," Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson said.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, never too enthusiastic about much publicly, spoke in his usual measured tone but with clear conviction late Friday at United Center.

"There are not many like him," he said of Rose. "As a matter of fact, there's probably not anybody who combines the speed, the quickness, the power."

Bulls center Joakim Noah has been Rose's biggest supporter, his staunchest and loudest defender, and has expressed his frustration at anyone who questioned Rose's dedication to basketball. Inside the Bulls locker room late Friday, Noah spoke in a whisper.

"It's very well deserved," Noah said. "Derrick's gone through so much over the last couple of years, so much adversity and so much pain not being able to play basketball. He's somebody who has a lot of confidence in himself, more than anybody I've ever been around.

"I know he's special. I just feel great right now that he hit a huge shot for us."

With the game-clock ticking toward zero after 47 minutes, 57 seconds of high-intensity, high-stakes playoff basketball, Rose caught an inbounds pass from Mike Dunleavy. Rose improvised slightly when the Cleveland Cavaliers took away the best options and launched a 26-foot three-pointer — over the outstretched arms of Tristan Thompson — that banked in off the glass as final horn sounded, giving the Bulls a 99-96 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

When the shot went in, Rose didn't smile as he backpedaled toward the Bulls bench, and he didn't smile as teammates congratulated him.

So many others smiled for him.

"It's been a long time coming," Rob McClanaghan, his personal basketball trainer, said in the corridor outside the Bulls locker room. "He's earned that."

Rose finished with 30 points, seven assists and seven rebounds — 24 of his points came in the second half, including 14 in the fourth quarter as the Bulls took a 2-1 series lead.

If there's a player fans can be happy for, if there's player they want to see excel, there are not many better choices than Rose, the Chicago-born, hometown star whose considerable talents have been minimalized by three knee injuries.

He missed the 2012-13 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament sustained during the 2012 playoffs. In an interview with USA TODAY Sports in the winter of 2013, Rose described the beginning of long recovery and rehab: "They had to block the nerve in my leg, so when that nerve block wore off, the pain came. It felt like someone was hitting my hamstrings with a sledgehammer."

Eleven games into the 2013-14 season, Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee, ending his season. He rehabbed again, played for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup last summer, and the Bulls were ready to have Rose for the entire 2014-15 season.

Rose played in 46 of Chicago's first 57 games before tearing the meniscus in his right knee again on Feb. 23. He had surgery and returned in April to get ready for the Bulls' playoff run.

Think about this: Rose won the MVP in 2010-11 when he was just 22 years old. Then over the course of the past four seasons, Rose played in just 100 regular-season games.

Injuries robbed him of prime years and of important development.

And injuries robbed basketball of one its bright, young stars.

How many more knee injuries can one player endure?

And he had to answer questions: When will he return? What kind of player will he be when he returns? Will he ever be the same old Derrick Rose?

While we waited for Rose to come back time and time and time again, he found great perspective outside of basketball. He loves being a dad, enjoys taking out his cell phone to show pictures of his son.

"I love hearing his voice when he says my name — the way that he runs around, the way we wrestle, the way that we play. He's like my boss," Rose told USA TODAY Sports in January.

Rose returned from his most recent knee injury on April 8, one week before the regular season ended. Counting Friday, he has played in 14 games since his surgery to repair the meniscus.

That hasn't stopped reporters from pointing out how much better Rose has been during the playoffs on at least two days off between games compared to one day off between games in the regular season. Thibodeau has reminded reporters that Rose is shaking off three years of rust.

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"When you add in where Derrick is, in terms of the playoffs for the first time in over three years, also having surgery the second half of the season, you're talking about a player who's still working through things," Thibodeau said. "The longer it goes, the better he becomes. He's bounced back after every one of these injuries and hopefully he's in a good place now. All he can do is take care of himself as best he can, go out there and give us everything he has."

When will the old Derrick Rose come back? For myriad reasons, that Rose is not coming back, and that's OK.

"That old, reckless player that you saw years ago, he's not there anymore," Rose said during the Bulls' first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks. "It's old, man. That player that you saw, that reckless player ... I'm smarter now. I love this player. This player is better."

He even looks at basketball in the abstract.

"I owe so much to the sport. I don't look at it as a sport anymore," he said after helping the Bulls beat Cleveland in Game 1.

"I look at it as art with how many hours I stay in the gym, how many hours I stay with just recovery, just helping my body on off days, getting rest. ... It's just an honor to be here."

On Wednesday, Rose said, "I'm just having fun."

There was no smile to indicate that fun, just as there was no smile after beating the Cavs with a buzzer-beater.

"I don't mean to sound cocky," Rose said, "but that's a shot you want to take if you are a player in my position. I'm thankful and grateful that my teammates gave me the ball. They believe in me. Down the stretch they kept giving me the ball and encouraging me to play the way I usually play.

"And no, I did not call glass."

There was a slight smile. He couldn't help himself. He didn't need a big smile anyway.

Basketball smiled for Derrick Rose on Friday night in Chicago.

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.

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