Derrick Rose again rises to occasion to help Knicks beat Grizzlies

Monday marked 10 years to the day that Derrick Rose was named the Most Valuable Player in the NBA, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to earn the honor at 22 years old.

Given the medical textbook of injuries that have befallen him since, which robbed him of some of his jaw-dropping athleticism, that hardly inspired faith that on his 10-year anniversary, he would be playing the way he did over the past two nights, first scoring 24 points in a win in Houston and then following it up with a season-high 25 points to help the Knicks beat the Grizzlies, 118-104, in Memphis. Julius Randle led the Knicks with 28 points.

"It’s crazy," Rose said. "The story is crazy but I’m just happy to still be here playing decent basketball. I’m very appreciative."

Rose had carried the Knicks offense in the first half, scoring a team-high 15 points, hitting 6 of 7 from the floor. But after a quick bucket when he returned in the second half he went cold and turned the ball over twice, prompting Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau to pull him in favor of Alec Burks. But less than a minute later Burks left the game limping after Ja Morant fell on the back of his right leg. Rose reentered and delivered a fadeaway jumper in the lane, then drew an offensive foul on Morant as the Knicks 106-98 lead.

But Desmond Bane hit a three and it was down to a five-point lead again. But Rose did it again, rising in the lane for a lefthanded shot with 1:46 to play. He wasn’t done, driving through the Memphis defense for a lefthanded layup with 1:10 remaining giving him a season-high 25 points. The Knicks put it away with free throws as Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins and Ja Morant each were hit with a pair of technical fouls.

Asked what had switched off — and then on — for him in that fourth quarter he laughed and said, "Oh man, (I’m) 32. We got in at four o'clock in the morning."

That may have sounded like a voice of experience, but it was also one who was not taking quite as much credit as he deserves for the turnaround in New York — winning 12 of their last 13 games and improving to 2-0 to start this six-game road trip.

While the injuries to Rose often were accompanied by knowing glances from critics who pointed to his hard-driving coach, Rose never did that. And reunited in a third city, he doesn’t hesitate to credit Thibodeau for what he’s accomplishing now.

Rose, who was dealt to the Knicks on Feb. 7 from the lottery-bound Detroit Pistons, has found his form again — maybe not the MVP, high-flying form but a style that has made him a key contributor to the team.

He averaged at least 30 minutes in each of his first eight years in the league, including his season with the Knicks in 2016-17. He was playing 22.8 minutes per game with Detroit and has raised the figure to 26.3 with the Knicks. But entering Monday night’s game against the Grizzlies, he was averaging 30.5 minutes in the last seven games, topping out at 35 minutes.

"I mean it’s all Thibs," Rose said. "It’s whatever the team needs, whatever they want me to do, I’ll go out there and play. It wasn’t a set number or anything. In the past, people were throwing out different numbers, saying when I played over 26 minutes that I will get injured or crazy stories like that, which I didn’t understand. Because practice, you have an hour-and-a-half practice and I’m on my feet moving around and practicing for an hour and a half, two hours doing training camp and all that.

"They overlook the practice. How do you overlook that we’ve been on the floor for an hour and a half, two hours in practice, but tell me I can’t play over 26 minutes in the game? Like, it makes no sense, especially with the way that I played. Now I’m not driving every time. I changed my game. So I felt like it was always an excuse. And now Thibs is allowing me to be out there. I don’t pay attention to the minutes until after the game. As long as we win, I don’t care about the minutes."

His production has risen and his efficiency has not dropped. In that seven-game span, he averaged 18.7 points and shot 57.1% from the field, 47.1% from beyond the arc and 86.4% from the free-throw line. He also averaged 5.1 assists to 1.1 turnovers.

"That's the great value in him," Thibodeau said. "Whether he was the MVP of the league at 22 or 10 years later he's the same guy. He's always been a team first guy and winning’s always at the forefront. He’s always been a great teammate. He's happy when other people have success.

"He's most happy when the team wins. And whether he scores two points or he scores 20 points, he's the same guy. And he's doing it a lot of different ways, I think, I have mentioned this many times when we look at his net rating per 48 when he's on the floor, what he's done with us is pretty remarkable. So he adds a lot of value to winning."

Rose endured a bout with COVID-19 that sidelined him for 23 days. It drained him of strength and added weight, which he is working hard to shed with extra work and running.

"I’m still trying to drop some pounds during COVID," Rose said. "I gained some weight, I was eating a little bit. Now that I’m playing, around that time we didn’t have that many practices, so I’m trying to do extra conditioning, things at practice or whenever I get a chance to do my three-minute runs so that I can lose like two or three more pounds.

"I feel like my rhythm is getting there but I don’t feel like I’m totally back,’’ he said. "But I’m pacing myself. I’m not taking crazy shots. I’m taking my shots, and they’re giving me shots. They’re giving me my three-ball now, I feel like I can make those shots, and now that I’m getting my legs under me a little bit more and it’s an easy shot for me, especially when I’m taking my time. But I’ve just got to keep playing, keep pushing myself and my teammates. They allow me to play in a way that I play. I wouldn’t be playing this way with as much freedom if they didn’t allow me, so I appreciate them more than anything."

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.