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Westerlund: Tom Thibodeau's Vision For Derrick Rose Coming To Fruition

By Cody Westerlund-

CHICAGO (CBS) – Amid the questions about the attacking mentality of Bulls point guard Derrick Rose after he scored a season-high 31 points in his team's 115-106 win against the Trail Blazers on Friday at the United Center, Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau slipped in the line that's become easy to forget in the drama of the past 32 months.

"When he's aggressive like that, there's no one like him," Thibodeau said.

As other top point guards are best known for their raw power (Russell Westbrook), utmost grace (Chris Paul) or most uncanny ball-handling and finishing ability (Kyrie Irving), Rose's is a style of explosiveness with a side of glide. Bursting by foes and then hanging in the lane, contorting around defenders and lifting floaters over helpless big men, Rose is more likely to leave you in awe than jumping off the couch.

In that way, he's unique, as a crowd of 21,725 at the United Center saw when Chicago (14-8) earned arguably its best win of the season.

After a second take-charge, go-at-'em performance in three days, we will now ask, is Rose back? It's the natural reaction but also rather empty fodder. We're drawn to the 54 points in that stretch when 56 minutes is probably the most significant tidbit, so "who knows" remains closest to the truth.

What matters most to Thibodeau is the daily grind, as it always does. As outsiders debated weeks ago whether Rose should be shut down until Christmas or even later into the season to avoid injury, Thibodeau's only ever seen one solution, one path to the championship glory that the Bulls seek.

Derrick Rose, on the court, every single night he can be, for the opening tip and the final buzzer. His is a simple take.

And we call Thibodeau the crazy one?

"He's building," Thibodeau said. "The last game was the same thing, another good game for him. So he's stringing games together, he's stringing good games together. He's aggressive, and I think when he plays like that, it's the thrust that we play with, when he's pushing the ball, we get some easy baskets, we get postups. We get to the penalty early.

"We all feel he's going to be back to the same guy that he was. He's going step by step. He's got to keep building, keep attacking."

Now more than one-quarter through the season, Thibodeau's vision is coming to fruition. If it wasn't his trademark style, Rose displayed the needed mindset Friday night in dashing, slashing, floating and finishing through and around Portland's defense and a helpless array of defenders. Rose hit 14 of 24 shots, and all 14 makes were 2-pointers, many in the lane.

He hoisted just two treys, then said afterward that he'd envisioned a night prior while at home that he would attack the hoop Friday.

More importantly – considering the "Will he or won't he play" nightly drama of the early season – Rose repeated his coach's refrain. They're on the same page.

"Even with this performance, I can't be (too) up," Rose said. "I know the next time I play, it could be something different. My confidence level is very high, like it's always been. My goals are still the same: stay healthy, keep stringing them out and win games."

While Thibodeau's pleased with Rose's progress, upper management and the training staff continue to enforce a minutes restriction for him – it's in the 32-minute range, often less if the game's no longer in doubt. Asked if Rose's restrictions may be lifted anytime soon after he's played seven straight full games, Thibodeau responded, "I don't know."

It should be noted he didn't say it in a jovial manner.

This is the long play here and the right one, too, even if Thibodeau can only see as far as Saturday's flight to Miami. Practically speaking, the Bulls' approach has been the prudent one – they haven't risked Rose's health, and they've in no way damaged the long-term goal.

Rose joked earlier in the week the big news shouldn't have been the statement he made by wearing an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt last Saturday m warmups but rather the five games he'd played in full in a row. After he played a sixth one Wednesday, he warned the assembled media, "I know where I'm going to be" and added outsiders would soon be surprised by the height he elevates his game to.

For another night, he backed that up.

Derrick Rose is just playing basketball now, which is all we ever wanted.

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.

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