
Derrick Rose has come a long way since making his NBA debut against the Milwaukee Bucks five weeks ago. Although he has emerged as arguably the Chicago Bulls' best player, Rose is still prone to making rookie mistakes.
Rose looks to bounce back from a rough outing as the Bulls head back out on the road Wednesday to visit the Bucks, who hope to end their longest losing streak of the season at four games.After wrapping up its season-high seven-game road trip with Sunday's 103-92 comeback win over Philadelphia, Chicago (8-10) returned home Tuesday and suffered a 103-95 overtime loss to the 76ers.
The Bulls, who won three games on the road trip, made just 2-of-11 3-pointers Tuesday, and turned the ball over a season-high 24 times.
Rose had one of his best performances of the season Sunday with 18 points, a career-high 10 assists and five rebounds, but struggled in the rematch.
The No. 1 pick in this year's draft finished with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, but also turned the ball over a season-high six times and had just two assists. Rose, who had 25 assists and seven turnovers in his last three games combined, picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in the final quarter and twice had to go to the bench.
"(Andre Miller) is a good point guard and he tried to get me in foul trouble. He made plays," said Rose, the Eastern Conference rookie of the month.
Despite his struggles Tuesday, Rose still leads all rookies in assists (5.8), is second in scoring (18.7) and fourth in rebounds (4.2). He made his NBA debut against the Bucks on Oct. 28, and finished with 11 points and nine assists in Chicago's season-opening 108-95 victory.
"As he matures, he's going to be terrific," Milwaukee's Michael Redd said after that game.
The Bulls have won four straight over the Bucks (7-12), and eight of the last nine meetings.
In Chicago's last game at the Bradley Center on April 14, Luol Deng led the Bulls with 32 points, while Ben Gordon had 29 in a 151-135 victory.
Redd returned to Milwaukee's lineup Saturday after missing 14 games with a right ankle sprain. Redd, who averaged 21.3 points in the first four games this season before injuring his ankle against New York on Nov. 2, scored 20 points on 5-of-16 shooting in 35 minutes in the Bucks' 97-85 loss to Cleveland.
The Bucks won just five games in Redd's absence, and have lost four straight, and seven of nine.
"Rusty, rusty, just trying to get back into the swing of things, which is natural," Redd said. "Just got to continue to keep rehabbing it and keep getting it stronger. It felt great being out there."
Redd hopes to bounce back against the Bulls, whom he's had little trouble scoring against lately.
Redd had a season-high 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting in Milwaukee's season-opening loss to Chicago, and is averaging 32.5 points on 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from 3-point range in eight games against the Bulls since 2006-07 - his highest scoring average against any opponent in that span.