When discussing Derrick Rose’s game, explosiveness is normally the first adjective used to compliment him. Toughness rarely is.
Rose has a degree of basketball toughness – forged in one of the roughest street basketball neighborhoods in the South Side of Chicago. One of the parks he played in was nicknamed “Murder Park.’’ Rose’s toughness was missed in Wednesday’s lopsided loss to the Cavaliers at the Garden as he sat out his first regular-season game as a Knick with back soreness.
Flash back to Oct. 25 in Cleveland in the post-game locker room. Rose was the lone Knick to propose the team should’ve knocked LeBron James on his butt a couple of times when he got rolling on the fast break.