Derrick Rose will likely have no more than just a few practices to get ready for opening night with the New York Knicks.
Rose and two friends were cleared Wednesday in a $21.5 million lawsuit that accused them of raping his ex-girlfriend, jurors in Los Angeles needing less than four hours to reach their decision. Rose has been away from the team while dealing with the trial, and the Knicks are ready to welcome him back with open arms.
”It’s a tough thing he went through,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said in Boston on Wednesday night, before New York beat the Celtics in a preseason matchup. ”But now it’s over. Now he can focus on basketball. I know that’s what Derrick wants, to get back to do. We’re just all glad it’s done with and now he can get back here and focus on basketball.”
Hornacek said he did not expect Rose to play in the preseason finale in Brooklyn on Thursday, though did not completely rule it out. Rose and the Knicks open the season Tuesday in Cleveland, when the Cavaliers will get their championship rings – and at the same time, next door at Progressive Field, the Indians will host Game 1 of the World Series.
Teams traditionally don’t practice coming off a back-to-back, so that would suggest the Knicks might only have three practices with their point guard before the opener. Rose played in one preseason game.
”We have to get him up to speed on some of the things we’ve put in,” Hornacek said.
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RAPTORS 103, PISTONS 92
AUBURN HILLS, Michigan – Toronto guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan look ready for the season. Lowry scored 27 points, DeRozan added 26 and neither All-Star played more than 28 minutes.
Andre Drummond scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Detroit. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also scored 16, while Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris each had 14 for the Pistons.
RAPTORS: Lowry was 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Cory Joseph scored 10 points and Jonas Valanciunas grabbed 12 rebounds.
PISTONS: Drummond played in five preseason games, with five double-doubles. Harris played with a mask to protect his broken nose. Aron Baynes, who didn’t play Wednesday while recovering from surgery to repair his broken nose, is expected to wear a mask in the regular-season opener.
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KNICKS 121, CELTICS 96
BOSTON – Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points for New York, which got 13 from Kyle O’Quinn and 12 apiece from Sasha Vujacic and Ron Baker.
Jaylen Brown scored 17 for the Celtics, who lost Marcus Smart to a sprained left ankle in the second half.
KNICKS: Joakim Noah had two points in 14 minutes. Courtney Lee and Justin Holiday each scored 11 for New York. The Knicks had 33 assists on 45 field goals.
CELTICS: Boston gave Al Horford, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder the night off. Terry Rozier scored 13 points in 14 minutes.
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