Getty Derrick Rose in 2012.
The Chicago Bulls haven’t reached the NBA Finals since 1998, Michael Jordan’s final year with the team. They got close in 2011 behind Derrick Rose, who became the youngest MVP in NBA history during the 2010-11 season. However, LeBron James and the Miami Heat defeated the Bulls in five games in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.
Chicago was ready to make another run at the championship in 2011-12. Rose and Co. racked up 50 wins in the lockout year and were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It appeared that the Bulls and Heat were on another collision course to meet in the conference finals.
Unfortunately, Rose tore his left ACL in Game 1 of the 2012 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. He missed the entire following season and his injury still haunts former Bulls star Carlos Boozer.
“I feel like our team was literally a D Rose healthy being away from winning one or two championships,” Boozer told Mark Carman on the Da Windy City podcast. “In 2010 (2011 playoffs) we had D Rose and we just couldn’t get the job done, we put that on the chin and we take our hats off to our opponent. Moving forward we never had him in the postseason to upset those guys. I think it haunts all of us that we know if we would have kept D Rose healthy we would have at least got one.”
Rose and Boozer only played in 17 playoff games together on the Bulls. The former didn’t play at all in the 2013 or 2014 playoffs due to injuries and the latter was waived by Chicago in the summer of 2014.
This year’s Bulls, led by DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, have been one of the best stories in the NBA. Billy Donovan’s group is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings and DeRozan is in the MVP conversation.
Boozer, who finished his NBA career with averages of 16.2 points and 9.5 rebounds, is rooting for the Bulls to win it all this season. However, he can’t put this year’s squad over the Rose-led teams.
Boozer: ‘We Got D Rose with the City on His Back’
Rose, a Chicago native, led the Bulls to 62 wins in 2010-11 and 50 in 2011-12 and Boozer will never forget how special those Chicago teams were.
“People forget we were number one in defense all year,” Boozer told Carman. “This team is very good offensively but I think they are 0-16 ( 5-15) against the top teams in the league so they really haven’t beaten anybody good yet. DeMar DeRozan is having an MVP caliber season, Zach LaVine is one of the toughest guys in the league to guard, Vucevic is very talented but come on bro we got D Rose with the city on his back!
“I’m rooting for this group. They have come together, they came on very strong, they just gotta get over the hump against the good teams if they can find that mojo come playoff time they should be alright.”
The Bulls haven’t had success in the playoffs since Rose was traded in the summer of 2016. However, that could change this postseason.
DeRozan & LaVine Are on a Mission
DeRozan and LaVine are motivated to lead the Bulls on a deep postseason run since so many pundits said they wouldn’t mesh well together before the season started. During a February interview with Heavy, LaVine talked about quieting the critics.
“I’ve always been somebody that tries to shut people up and it’s just how it’s been,” LaVine said. “I think it gives a little extra fuel to the fire. It’s part of the game. People go out there and give their opinions and it’s up to us to go out there and tell ’em the truth on the court.”
It will be fascinating to see how the Bulls perform in the 2022 playoffs.