Imrem: Rose 'M-V-P' chants back again

Derrick Rose stepped to the free-throw line with 3:26 left in the third quarter Saturday night.

Rose had just hit 3 straight 3-point shots and an echo from the past resonated through the United Center: Chants of "M-V-P! … M-V-P! … M-V-P!"

Maybe it was at this point of the Bulls' 103-91 victory over Milwaukee that Rose officially was back where he belonged. Rose was playing his first postseason game since April 28, 2012, the day he suffered the first of his multiple knee injuries.

Though trying to remain unemotional, Rose waved his arms to encourage the loud crowd to cheer louder and louder. "I didn't mean to do it on purpose," Rose said. "It just came out."

The NBA playoffs are where Rose is supposed to be every spring. He's supposed to lead the Bulls into them and then carry his teammates through them.

That's what an "M-V-P!" point guard does. It's what Rose did in 2011, when he won the award and the Bulls advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.

Ever since, Rose has been confronted by criticism, cynicism and skepticism, some of it fair and some of it unfair, some of it self-inflicted and some of it inflicted by others.

Rose's knee injuries, surgeries and rehabs forced him to miss more games than he played since that fateful day three years ago. All anybody ever wanted was for him to play. Everybody wanted to see their "M-V-P!" on the court and especially back in the postseason.

Then there Rose was in Game 1 of this first-round playoff series against Milwaukee, receiving the most raucous cheers during pregame introductions.

Rose's repeated injuries might have frustrated his fans, but clearly he's still this town's very own: Stitched into his jacket is, "Just a kid from Chicago."

When healthy, Rose makes the Bulls whole. No wonder his teammates were patient whenever he took his time returning from whatever knee part he was reconditioning.

The payoff came on this night against the Bucks, when Rose played a playoff game again like an "M-V-P! … M-V-P! … M-V-P!"

The old-time burst was there as Rose exploded to the basket to score on a baseline drive, a tear drop, a reverse layup, a dunk and another reverse layup.

Just when fans might have said thank goodness Rose quit standing outside and shooting 3-pointers, he hit 3 straight 3s in the third quarter. Rose looked like he could have scored 50 points if he wanted but settled for 23 and 7 assists in a mere 27 minutes.

"Special," is how teammate Joakim Noah described Rose's performance.

One thing should be pointed out here: Rose isn't quite his previous "M-V-P!" self because he still has to sustain this level of superiority outing after outing. He played only 4½ games at the end of the season after missing the previous 20 and he still is rounding into shape.

"He missed a lot of time," coach Tom Thibodeau said, "but he's making progress and moving forward."

The best sign for the Bulls was that Rose fell hard to the floor and stayed down a few seconds - gasp - but climbed back up uninjured.

"I was just tired," Rose said. "I just had to catch my breath."

Now Bulls fans will have to hold theirs while waiting to see whether Derrick Rose can remain healthy enough to string together a series of "M-V-P!" games like this one.

mimrem@dailyherald.com