Rose upset with call, but loss to Bobcats even more upsetting
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Mr. Quiet and Unemotional was hopping mad. He became so agitated, teammates and coaches from the nearby Bulls bench grabbed him, worried that he might come further unglued and earn a technical foul.
After all these years of being stoical, what made Derrick Rose so angry? A 3-shot foul with 19.2 seconds remaining against fellow rookie D.J. Augustin, which allowed the Charlotte Bobcats to tie the Bulls in regulation and eventually break their seven-game losing streak with a 110-101 overtime victory Tuesday night.
Rose contested Augustin's shot aggressively, but it didn't appear on replays that he initiated any contact.
"You tell me. I don't know," Rose said when asked what happened. "I must have blinked too hard or something. You can't call that, especially not at the end of a game like that. But it is what it is. We lost."
Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro nearly kicked Augustin in the head during a rush to protest the foul call. But when the brutal, embarrassing loss was complete, Del Negro admitted the obvious, that the Bulls (11-13) blew plenty of chances to cement this one into the win column.
"You can't put yourself in those positions," he said. "No question a tough call against us. You move on. They played better than us. They executed better."
The entire night didn't go well for Rose as he endured his worst game as a pro. He hit just 3 of 16 shots from the field for 6 points, to go with 7 assists. With one last chance to win in regulation, Rose got into the lane, but his runner was blocked by Emeka Okafor just before the buzzer.
"Okafor blocked my shot at least three or four times," Rose said. "I should have been a smarter player and got up in there, faked a couple of times, then went up. But that was on me.
"I played against (Memphis teammate) Joey Dorsey my whole college career (in practice), so I know how to get used to people like that. I don't know why I didn't do it this game."
Augustin, on the other hand, poured in a game-high 29 points and drained 4 of 7 shots from 3-point range.
The No. 9 pick of the June draft downplayed the matchup with Rose, but no doubt Augustin remembers Rose and Memphis pounding his Texas squad last spring in an NCAA Tournament regional final.
This was definitely a game the Bulls could have won easily.
Charlotte (8-18) played the previous night in Atlanta and was missing top scorer Gerald Wallace, who was in Alabama attending his father's funeral. The home team scored just 5 points in the opening eight minutes, but the Bulls couldn't build a lead beyond 12 points.
The Bobcats started three players who weren't on the roster a week ago. Boris Diaw (15 points) and Raja Bell arrived in a trade with Phoenix for guard Jason Richardson, while veteran forward Juwan Howard was a free-agent pickup.
After missing his first 5 shots, Bell was ejected late in the first quarter for yelling an unprintable insult at referee Eli Roe, the official who later called the controversial foul against Rose. Charlotte piled up a 36-10 edge in free-throw attempts after halftime against a sluggish Bulls defense. The loss spoiled another strong performance by Tyrus Thomas (22 points, 9 rebounds), while Ben Gordon led the visitors with 25 points.
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