On Saturday night, the Chicago Bulls kept their winning ways going with a narrow home win over the Boston Celtics. The Bulls won this game thanks to a late three-pointer from Kevin Huerter in the corner, allowing the team to cement the victory on a night in which they retired the jersey of franchise legend Derrick Rose.
After the game, Rose made a special gesture for Huerter, giving him the game ball with his signature on it.
“I'm signing this ball because Kevin Huerter just hit the game-winner and I gotta show him some love,” said Rose, per the Bulls on X, formerly Twitter.
Huerter has had an up and down season for the Bulls this year, but he came up clutch late against the Celtics on a possession in which the Bulls' ball movement kept Boston off balance. It certainly seemed to benefit the Bulls down the stretch that the Celtics were on the second night of a back to back, featuring a game the previous night that went into double overtime against the Brooklyn Nets.
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Meanwhile, the big story of the game before the Huerter dagger was the retirement of Rose's jersey. Rose spent nearly a decade as a member of the Bulls, becoming the youngest player ever to win the NBA MVP award for his efforts during the 2010-11 season, a record that still stands to this day.
That year, the Bulls got the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and made a run to the conference finals. Unfortunately, injuries became a major issue for Rose the following season, beginning with his torn ACL suffered against the Philadelphia 76ers following another regular season in which the Bulls had secured the number one seed.
Still, through it all, Rose and the city of Chicago have shown nothing but love for one another, and he was certainly appreciative that they got the clutch win on his night.