A Dozen Roses: 12 of Derrick Rose’s best career games

With Derrick Rose announcing his retirement on Thursday after a 16-year NBA career, it is time to give the 2011 NBA MVP and three-time NBA All-Star his flowers.

Over 775 combined regular season and playoff games, Rose dazzled basketball fans with his elite athleticism, explosive dunks, acrobatic finishes, crafty ball-handling and clutch buckets.

Here are 12 memorable games from Rose’s career, in chronological order:

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Apr. 18, 2009 – CHI at BOS (OT) (Game 1, First Round)

36 pts, 12-19 FG, 12-12 FT, 4 reb, 11 ast, 1 stl

Box Score

Rose made his postseason debut in historic fashion – joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only rookies to post a 35+ point, 10+ assist playoff game in NBA history – as he dropped 36 points and 11 dimes in 50 minutes to lead the Bulls to a 105-103 overtime win over the Celtics.

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Jan. 15, 2010 – CHI vs. WAS (2OT)

37 pts, 16-33 FG, 5-7 FT, 9 reb, 6 ast

Box Score

The first of Rose’s eight game-winning buckets in his career (don’t worry, we’ll cover all eight in this list) came in a double-overtime win over the Wizards. After missing a potential game-winner at the end of regulation, Rose assisted on the game-tying bucket in the first OT before knocking down the game-winner in 2OT.

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Jan. 22, 2010 – CHI at PHX

32 pts, 15-21 FG, 1-1 3P, 1-3 FT, 3 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl

Box Score

In a career filled with jaw-dropping dunks and finishes around the basket, one signature slam easily comes to mind when reminiscing about the career of Derrick Rose – his two-handed fast break dunk over Phoenix’s Goran Dragic – in Chicago’s 115-104 win over the Suns.

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May 6, 2011 – CHI at ATL (Game 3, East Semifinals)

44 pts, 16-27 FG, 4-7 3P, 8-9 FT, 5 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Box Score

On May 3, 2011, Derrick Rose became the youngest Most Valuable Player in NBA history, winning the award at 22 years, 191 days old. Three days later, Rose turned in an MVP performance as he dropped a playoff career-high 44 points on the Hawks in Game 3 of the East Semis to put the Bulls up 2-1 in the series.

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Dec. 25, 2011 – CHI at LAL

22 pts, 9-13 FG, 4-6 3P, 1 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk

Box Score

With the 2011-12 season opening on Christmas Day, Rose delivered a game-winner for the Bulls against the Lakers in L.A. Down one with 13 seconds left, Rose drove into the lane against Derek Fisher and rose for a hook shot over the outstretched arms of Pau Gasol to sink the game-winner with 4.8 seconds left.

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March 7, 2012 – CHI at MIL

30 pts, 8-22 FG, 14-14 FT, 8 reb, 11 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Box Score

With the game tied at 104 and the shot clock off, Rose had the ball in his hands, one-on-one with Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings. Rose wasn’t having the best shooting game (7-of-21 at that point), but everyone knew he was taking the final shot. Rose used a crossover dribble into a step-back to create space and launched a 20-foot jumper that dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded.

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October 31, 2013 – CHI vs. NYK

18 pts, 7-23 FG, 2-5 3P, 2-2 FT, 6 reb, 3 ast

Box Score

In his first regular-season home game after missing the entire 2012-13 season following his ACL tear, Rose sent the United Center into a frenzy when he hit a high-arching baseline floater over two defenders with 5.7 seconds to seal an 82-81 win for the Bulls on Halloween. Rose had shot just 6-of-22 before the game-winner, but the former MVP did not hesitate with the game on the line.

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January 27, 2015 – CHI at GSW (OT)

30 pts, 13-33 FG, 4-12 3P, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk

Box Score

During Golden State’s first title run in 2014-15, they finished with a league-low 15 losses, with only two of those coming at home. One of those two home losses came at the hands of Rose, who hit a contested step-back 20-footer over Klay Thompson to put the Bulls up for good with seven seconds left in overtime.

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May 8, 2015 – CHI vs. CLE (Game 3, East Semifinals)

30 pts, 10-26 FG, 1-3 3T, 9-10 FT, 7 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Box Score

With the game tied at 96 with three seconds left, Rose caught an inbounds pass from Mike Dunleavy on the move outside the 3-point line. Rose took two dribbles to high right and rose for a 26-foot triple that banked in as the buzzer sounded to give the Bulls a 98-96 win and a 2-1 series lead.

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Oct 31, 2018 – MIN vs. UTA

50 pts, 19-31 FG, 4-7 3P, 8-11 FT, 4 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Box Score

On Halloween 2018, Rose had the greatest scoring game of his career, dropping 50 points in an emotional 128-125 win over Utah. Rose shot 19-of-31 from the field, while adding four 3s and eight free throws. He hit the go-ahead bucket – a tough turnaround jumper in the lane to give him 48 points – with 30 seconds left. He hit a pair of clutch free throws to extend the lead to three and reach 50 points with 13.8 seconds left. And he sealed with the win by blocking Dante Exum’s corner 3 attempt with three seconds left.

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January 20, 2019 – MIN vs. PHX

31 pts, 12-24 FG, 7-9 FT, 4 reb, 3 ast

Box Score

Rose came off the bench and scored 29 of his game-high 31 points in the second half – including a game-winning step-back jumper over Mikal Bridges with 0.6 seconds left – to help the Wolves rally from 11 points down to earn a 116-114 win over the Suns.

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December 9, 2019 – DET at NOP

21 pts, 9-17 FG, 1-3 3P, 2-2 FT, 2 reb, 7 ast

Box Score

The final game-winning bucket of Rose’s career came against the New Orleans Pelicans in his first season in Detroit. Rose scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter, capped by a driving turnaround jumper in the lane against Jrue Holiday with 0.6 seconds left to give the Pistons a 105-103 win.