Derrick Rose: Joakim Noah Is Right, Chicago Bulls Have the NBA's Best Closer
After Game 3's game-winning shot by Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah declared his teammate the best closer in the world.
""We got the best closer in the world,"and everybody knows it. And they (their opponents) know it. And we know it. And their coach knows it. And they say it, too. They have no problem saying it. And we all know it, so that's definitely gives confidence to our team."
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Now I'll grant you, Noah might be a bit over the top in declaring that everyone knows it. In fact, there are probably more people that don't "know" it, i.e. agree. That doesn't mean it's not true, though.
Every time there's a changing of the guard, there's a time where the young gun is better than the old gun, but not everyone knows it yet. Sometime around 2006, Dwight Howard surpassed Shaquille O'Neal as the best center in the world.
It's obvious now, years later. We've seen O'Neal continue to wane and Howard continue to rise. If you said it then, you'd have been laughed at. If you say it now, there's no controversy to the statement.
The prescient mind doesn't just look at the present, but the changes in the present that are indicative of the future. To know that moment where past greatness is surpassed by future greatness can't be realized by looking at all of history, as what someone has been and what they are now might not be the same.
Derrick Rose is on the rise and Kobe Bryant on the decline. Is it possible that Derrick Rose has surpassed Kobe Bryant as the best closer? Note that I don't say "greatest" closer but "best'" closer.
Again, I reference Howard and O'Neal. Easily right now Howard is the better player but O'Neal is the greater player. Certainly in terms of greatness, Rose has years of winning and a quintuplet of rings to garner before that comparison can be made, but in terms of better, there's a discussion to be had.
In the following slides, I'll review some reasons that Derrick Rose may very well be the best closer in the game right now.
What Is a Closer?
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So first, what does a closer mean? Well, it's not Kyra Sedgwick.
The closer is what Charles Barkley likes to eloquently refer to as "that dude." He is the player that when the game is on the line is going to get the ball.
When the other team is on a run, he's going to end the run. When you need a comeback, he's going to ignite the comeback. When you the final shot, he's going to have the ball in his hand.
A closer wannabe thinks he can win a game. A good closer knows he can win a game. With a great closer, everyone knows he can win a game.
Now don't confuse the best player on a team with the closer, either. Howard is the best player on the Magic, but he's not the closer. Jameer Nelson is the closer.
In some cases though the best player is the closer, and those for the most part, are the best closers in the game.
The Mind of a Closer
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The jaw thrust. Every NBA fan has seen it. Everyone that's not a fan of the Lakers hates it. Every fan of the Lakers loves it.
Kobe Bryant's jaw is like a gear shift. When he does that determined, under-bite jaw thrust, it's like he shifts gears. Then the game changes.
When they decide to take the game over they do. They have the mentality to win and the will to execute it. They are the "killers"...the "assassins" of the league.
Now don't get me wrong with what I'm going to say next, because it would be easy to do that. The closer plays to not lose. By that I don't mean they play "safe" and protect a lead or something like that. I mean it in an entirely different way.
What I mean by that is that they have an almost diagnosable hatred of losing. They aren't so much motivated by the thrill of the win, as they are by their hostility towards losing. When they do lose, they will think of nothing else until they win again.
While they hate the feeling of losing, they bottle it up and use it for motivation. They determine they will never feel that again. Losing is their enemy and their will is their weapon. They are the assassins.
Who Are the Closers?
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While technically every team might have the one player that is their closer, there are only a few true "closers" in the Association.
While it is a vague concept and there is a variance of opinion on who the "best closer" really is, let's just compare their clutch-time stats from 82games.com.
| Player | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers | Field Goal% | Free-Throw% |
| Kobe Bryant | 49.8 | 8.5 | 7.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 5.5 | .402 | .87 |
| Derrick Rose | 47.8 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 6.9 | .402 | .89 |
| LeBron James | 45.1 | 11.2 | 4.9 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 3.8 | .436 | .84 |
| Kevin Durant | 44.2 | 11.6 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 2.7 | .406 | .83 |
| Carmelo Anthony | 41.4 | 12.5 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 5.6 | .458 | .83 |
There they define clutch as, "fourth quarter or overtime, less than five minutes left, neither team ahead by more than five points." If you don't agree with that definition, that's fine. This is not intended to be a definitive argument, merely a supportive one.
Compared to Kobe Bryant, the only areas where Kobe is better are that he scores two more points and has about 1.4 fewer turnovers.
Compared to LeBron James, Rose has 2.7 more points, double the assists, .6 more steals, and a higher free-throw percentage. LeBron has .8 more rebounds, .1 more blocks, 3.1 fewer assists and a higher field goal percentage.
LeBron leads in more categories, but Rose leads in three of the four scoring areas (points, assists and the percentages) and has the most pronounced lead in assists.
The breakdown with Durant is the same, where Rose leads and trails in the same four areas, but trailing by 3.6 points and 7.5 assists is more significant that advantages Durant has over Rose, even in the turnover department.
With Anthony, Rose leads in four, Anthony three and they are tied in one. In the scoring areas, Rose is dominant, scoring 6.4 more points and averaging 8.5 more assists.
Now I know some are thinking that Rose is a point guard so of course he's going to have an advantage in assists, but when saying that notice the rebounds and blocks. He's right with the forwards in the areas that favor their positions.
One other thing I want to point out is that 88 percent of Rose's field goals are unassisted compared to James, 77 percent, Bryant, 73 percent, Durant, Bryant 43 percent, and Anthony 41 percent.
In other words, he's producing almost all of his team's points, either through scoring or passing. He's setting up almost all of their shots.
So does all of this prove that Rose is the best closer in the world? No. I wouldn't say that. However, it does establish that he's in the conversation, a suggestion some would scoff at. To establish that he's the best closer in game right now is going to require more than just some stats.
Closers Win
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When I previously wrote up an article on the most clutch players, someone asked a good question about it. Do their teams win? It's a fair question so I looked it up.
Here are each of the players' respective teams winning percentage in games decided by five points or less in games in which the players played.
| Player | Wins | Losses | Winning % | NBA Rank |
| Derrick Rose | 17 | 7 | 70.8% | 1 |
| Kevin Durant | 19 | 11 | 63.3% | 3 |
| Kobe Bryant | 13 | 9 | 59.1% | 9 |
| Carmelo Anthony | 13 | 10 | 56.5% | 11 |
| LeBron James | 6 | 13 | 31.6% | 30 |
As you can see, not only is the Rose the best of the five players in terms of helping his team win close games, the Bulls are the best team in the NBA at winning close games.
What About When the Game Is on the Line, Though?
5 of 7What about when the game is on the line though? Can he make the shot when missing it means lose and go home?
Here are each of the five players and how they've done with less than 10 seconds on the clock and down by three or less.
| Player | FG | FGA | FG% |
| Carmelo Anthony | 6 | 11 | .545 |
| Derrick Rose | 2 | 3 | .667 |
| Kobe Bryant | 2 | 5 | .400 |
| Kevin Durant | 2 | 10 | .200 |
| LeBron James | 1 | 8 | .125 |
Carmelo is all by himself here. He has one fewer than the other four combined. If there's going to be a guy to take the shot to win the game, I'd want him to take it.
Derrick, however, certainly holds his own with the rest. He has as many makes as any of the others and with fewer attempts.
He also is 6-7 with less than 10 seconds on the clock from the stripe to win or send the game into overtime. Additionally he has two game-winning assists.
Rallying
6 of 7On Oct. 30, Chicago trailed the Pistons by 23 in the first half. They were down 65-46 early in the third quarter. Derrick Rose scored or assisted on 33 of the Bulls' 43 second half points and the Bulls came back to win by 10.
On Nov. 24, they were down by 22 in the first half in Phoenix. Down 10 points against the Suns with 8:37 on the clock, the Bulls stormed back to tie. Rose scored or assisted on 13 of the Bulls 21 points down the stretch. He scored 11 of the 23 points in the two overtimes, including an assist to Noah at the buzzer to send it into the second overtime.
Those two games represent the only time in NBA history where a team trailed by 22 or more points and won the game twice in the same season.
On March 26, down to the Bucks by four with four minutes left Derrick Rose scores or assists on the Bulls' last 16 points in leading the Bulls back to a win.
On March 18 against the Pacers, down 13 points with 7:18 left, Rose hits a three and ignites a rally. He scores 19 of the Bulls' next 20 points and outscores the Pacers 19-7 by himself to send the game into overtime on three free-throws.
Time and again this season, Rose has ignited one comeback after another to lead his team back from certain defeat. In each of the three playoff wins so far this season, he's been instrumental, and he nearly led a comeback in the fourth.
The Flaws
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Does Derrick Rose have flaws? Sure he does. He turns the ball over more than he should sometimes. He forces plays that aren't there. He takes shots he shouldn't have taken.
That's all part of the closer mentality, though. If you're a ninja assassin, you can't be afraid to swing your sword.
Expect him to improve on those things. Remember, he's a hard-working 22-year-old kid.
If he's not the best closer in the world, he sure is in the conversation. Now it's just a matter of how long it is before he takes everyone else out of it.
