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CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose showed up to his postgame locker room interview in a T-shirt and shorts, covered in beads of sweat. After a 28-minute "I'm back" type of game in the Chicago Bulls' 114-107 victory Saturday over the Philadelphia 76ers, Rose hit the weights with some teammates. "You go in the weight room right now, and there's six, seven people in the weight room after the game doing a postgame lift," he said. "That's what you need." It's crunch time and, yes, crunches time for a Bulls team long on potential and short on time to put it all together. It all starts with No. 1. Playing in his first home game since a Feb. 23 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, Rose finished with 22 points, eight assists, six rebounds, three steals and zero turnovers in 28 minutes. The Bulls were plus-25 when Rose was in the game. Although regular plus/minus isn't exactly NBA calculus, that's pretty good. Rose's third game back from meniscus surgery on his right knee was his best. That's a good sign, even if it was against a 62-loss team. "I just like him on the court," Joakim Noah said. "When you see Derrick moving like that, it's definitely a plus for this team. To see him come back after three games and play at that level, it's big."  Rose went 8-for-19 from the floor and hit five of seven free throws. Yes, he missed four of five 3-pointers, but coach Tom Thibodeau said they were the right 3-pointers. What's really important is Rose looked whole and, occasionally, "holy bleep." "You can tell he feels good, and that's the most important thing," Thibodeau said. "I like the rhythm that he had, also." Rose didn't play in the fourth quarter in his first two games back from a six-week hiatus. But with time added to his minutes allotment Saturday, he played the final 6 minutes, 43 seconds of a close game and scored six points while adding two assists. "Derrick is a superstar, and that's what superstars do," veteran Sixers guard Jason Richardson said. "He's trying to get his rhythm back for the playoffs. He just went to work." Not just on offense. With 2:23 left in the fourth, Rose missed a shot but rallied with a full-court, chase-down steal of JaKarr Sampson. The Bulls were nursing a four-point lead at the time. "He made a few great hustle plays," Thibodeau said. "Defensively, he came up with some loose balls and great effort plays." For one night, against a squad that didn't double-team him much, Rose looked like, well, himself, which hasn't always been the case during this roller-coaster season. The Bulls haven't had much luck the past few years, but they've been hopeful that some kind of karmic payback was around the corner. "It definitely gives us positive energy," Noah said. "This team needs it. Just to see him out there playing like that, moving like that, it feels great." While everyone was happy to see Rose drive to the hole, even against an older defender such as Richardson, his court vision was what impressed me. Rose didn't just have home-scorer assists. He created baskets with his passing -- full-court flicks, bullet passes in the post. His pixie dust even helped the cold-shooting Nikola Mirotic hit a 3. Rose's assists accounted for 19 points. After he missed 20 games recovering from the knee surgery, Rose said he feels more patient than when he came back at the start of the season. He has talked a lot about watching the game and taking it in during his injury sabbaticals. Maybe he really can channel that knowledge into the total-floor game that made him an MVP. "I missed three years, damn near," he said. "You see everything." Before the game, a friend of Rose's told me he was surprised when Rose told him he was just happy to be playing basketball again. The friend hadn't heard that in a while -- maybe because of all the pressure on Rose's shoulders and, yes, his knees after two lost seasons. Unprompted, Rose talked a little about his feelings after his game and credited his teammates for sticking with him during tough times. "I'm grateful, I'm excited," he said. "Just filled with joy that I'm back playing." Now he just has to repeat that kind of game over and over against playoff teams. Rose has two more warmup outings before the real season begins. He hasn't played a postseason game since the infamous opener against Philadelphia in 2012. Something tells me he's ready for that return.
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