It was any January night in 2010, dark and cold. The Bulls were playing the Suns in Phoenix. Derrick Rose was in his second season—a year before being named MVP of the regular season—the youngest player in the history of the NBA to be so.
Rose’s game was simple enough: attack. Attack at all times. Total aggression. It was Heavy Metal basketball. So knowing what Rose was going to do wasn’t the problem, it was trying to stop him that was problematic.
The Suns were never really in this game. Former two-time MVP Steve Nash was having a bad night, being at a point in his career when players like Rose and Russell Westbrook were to athletic and could overpower him.