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D-Rose, D-Wade Join Forces in All-Star Game

By Angie Wiatrowski in News on Feb 20, 2011 7:00PM

With his low-key, humble persona, Bulls All-Star point guard Derrick Rose will be put to the test and have to jump off his Chicago home-town hero pedestal as he competes with the best of the best in the NBA All-Star game.

He's not in Chicago tonight, but it has been noticed that the third-year rookie has become a nation-wide phenomenon. Rose will join fellow Chicagoan Dwyane Wade and hope to bring his Chicago-style All-Star play to the L.A. court. However, it didn’t seem very possible after Saturday’s Taco Bell Skills Challenge.

Rose joined fellow teammate Taj Gibson and neither faired very well in the competition. Rose won the event in 2009 but fell short as his 35.7 second first-round time wasn’t enough to advance to the event’s second and final round. Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry came out on top in the competition.

Rose wasn’t the only one struggling as Team Chicago, (consisting of Gibson, former Bull Steve Kerr and Chicago sky’s Catherin Kraayveld of the WNBA) was a little shaky and missed the mix of shots from various ranges. Team Atlanta came out with the win.

Tonight it won’t be so much a Rose v. Wade situation as it was Jan. 15 when Rose outscored Wade 34-33 with 8 assists in a 99-96 victory. Now the Chicago natives will join forces and see what kind of damage can be done on the court.

Wade is looking forward to playing along side Rose telling NBA.com, “That kid is going to be great for a long time. You don’t get the chance to play with great point guards too much. That was very tempting to me.”

However Wade had some second thoughts about how the two could clash on the court, “I broke it down: Would it work with both of us in the backcourt? Two guys who need the ball a lot, two guys not necessarily proven shooters as other guys. But then I thought about it,” added Wade. “I felt it would be dynamic as well. It’s kind of like two guys who can get in the open floor, who can break down a defense, who can finish.”

Rose shares some similar feelings about the duo and said, “It’s (going to be) crazy. We have a lot of great players on our team. I think our starting five (Rose, Wade, James, Stoudemire, and Howard) is crazy. Anyone just about can get up and down the court.. except Dwight (Howard). It should be an exciting game, competitive.”