LOS ANGELES • Derrick Rose dusted off his Most Valuable Player (MVP) costume and dropped a career-high 50 points as he gave the home fans a Halloween treat by powering the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 128-125 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
It had taken the 30-year-old, the National Basketball Association's youngest MVP at 22, a decade to hit the mark after an injury-plagued career and he was so overwhelmed that he broke down in tears.
Mobbed by teammates and with the 10,000 crowd chanting M-V-P! long after the final buzzer, he told reporters: "This means everything. I worked my a** off. I am doing everything just to win. I played my heart out... It was a hell of a night."
Rose, also the Rookie of the Year in 2009 and a three-time All-Star, had achieved almost all the top personal honours with the Chicago Bulls by 2011. But his star was extinguished soon just as quickly, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2012 and a meniscus tear in 2013 the start of a litany of knee injuries that led to four surgeries in 10 years.
His journeyman status reached a nadir in February after being waived by Utah without playing a single game. The Cleveland Cavaliers traded him to the Jazz, with a team source saying that his injuries "had taken a toll on him mentally".
A month later, the Timberwolves threw the then free agent a lifeline in the hope of reviving a career that was built on explosiveness.
The reunion with former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau - with whom he enjoyed his best spell in the league as the youngest-ever MVP - proved promising enough for the Timberwolves to re-sign him in the summer.
Going into the game, there had been encouraging signs with his 14.3-point average a marked improvement from last term's 8.4.
And he turned back the clock with a 34-point performance in the second half to exact a measure of revenge against the team who released him earlier in the year.
His previous best had been a 44-point showing for the Bulls against the Atlanta Hawks in 2011.
He made a key block on a Jazz three-point attempt with two seconds left to ice the victory against the Jazz, who were paced by 26 points from Donovan Mitchell.
Teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 28 points, was left humbled by Rose's "vintage" display. He said: "D-Rose is the man. The legend. Myth. It was numbing. I never realised something like that in my life. The man was just out there floating."
Timberwolves coach Thibodeau paid tribute to Rose's resilience, saying: "He's been through a lot of adversity. He's maybe one of the most mentally tough people I've ever come across."
Rose's counterparts were also left in awe, taking to social media to hail his feat, with the Hawks' Jeremy Lin and Bulls great Scottie Pippen among many giving shout-outs.
"Every basketball fan in the world should feel good for D. Rose," the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade tweeted. "Tonite (sic) was an example of never giving up on yourself and when others believe in you. I'm smiling like I scored 50! Congrats to a good dude!"
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James added: "To have the battles and battles with his injuries, to be able to come back, for him to set a career high, that's unbelievable.
"Every kid, you don't even have to play sports - any kid that's going through anything in life about adversity and triumph, and trying to just get over the hump, you can look at that performance.
"That's why our game is so unbelievable because even when a superhero's knocked down, he's still a superhero, and Rose showed why he's still a superhero."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
