Derrick Rose and Nemanja Bjelica drain game-winners to help their teams escape with key road wins

Author Photo
Derrick Rose & Nemanja Bjelica

On a busy nine-game slate on Monday, two games stood out and it should be no surprise why. 

Clutch Derrick Rose 

Through three quarters, it was a close game as the Pistons led 81-74 and Derrick Rose had only scored four points (2-9 FG's).

The fourth quarter, however, was a different story. 

Rose went off for 17 points (7-9 FG's) in the final period including the game-winner, which gave the Pistons their fourth win in the last five games.

After the game, in the oncourt postgame interview, Rose said “Excuse my English but I’m born to do this sh*t...like dead serious, this is what I do. That's one of the reasons why they brought me here.”

The former MVP was speaking the truth. 

In the final 10 seconds of a game, this is Rose's seventh regular season game-winner of his career.  

After a 4-10 month of November, the Pistons have won some crucial games in early December (4-1 record so far) before they play the likes of the Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the span of seven games. 

First, however, they travel to Mexico City to play against the Dallas Mavericks.

Nemanja Bjelica does it for 2nd time in 2 games.

For the second time in two games and two nights, Serbian Nemanja Bjelica nails the game-winning shot in a close road game for the Kings. 

A day earlier, this dunk and a career-high performance put an end to the Mavericks' furious fourth quarter rally and more importantly, it gave the Kings their first close-margin road win of the season. 

Against the Rockets, he snapped the Kings' 10-game losing streak in Houston by knocking down a 35-foot buzzer-beating 3-pointer:

This shot wraps up a very successful four-game road trip where they finished 3-1 and if it wasn't for a double-overtime defeat in San Antonio, they would have gone unbeaten. 

The views expressed here do not represent those of the NBA or its clubs.

Author(s)