Maybe it was the mask all along.
Derrick Rose had one of his quietest, worst halves before the ditching the mask that covered his recovering fractured orbital bone, helping pull the Bulls from near disaster.
The Bulls survived Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers when Chris Paul’s leaning triple try bounced off the rim, with an 83-80 final at the United Center.
Rose’s floater with 45.4 seconds left put the Bulls up six, as he scored nine in the fourth quarter to help end the three-game losing streak. After going scoreless in the first half and looking a bit out of it through three quarters, he turned it up late, and luckily his counterpart wasn’t having a banner night either, as Paul shot just five for 16 and committed critical errors down the stretch when the Clippers were mounting a comeback.