Kevin Huerter Tried to Recreate Derrick Rose's Iconic Celebration After Bulls' Win

The stakes may not have been nearly as high, but Kevin Huerter did his best Derrick Rose impression with the game on the line Saturday night.

The Chicago Bulls were facing off against the second-place Boston Celtics in front of a sold-out United Center crowd. Derrick Rose – plus many of his friends, family, and former teammates – were in the building awaiting his highly-anticipated jersey retirement ceremony. The hometown hero was about to become only the fifth player in franchise history to receive the honor.

With that in mind, as the score sat knotted at 111 apiece, not many in the building were looking forward to a possible OT. And the Bulls likely knew it.

Josh Giddey retrieved the inbound with 14.2 seconds left on the clock. After letting some time tick off, he dribbled to the top of the key before passing it off to Coby White, who essentially set a slip screen before popping to Giddey's left side. Despite White's hot 5-9 shooting night from deep, he chose to relay the rock to a stationed Huerter in the corner.

The Celtics were slow to hit their rotations, giving Huerter a clean look at the game-winner. He drilled it with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. It was the kind of clutch heroics that Bulls fans saw plenty of from No. 1 over the years.

Indeed, the victory felt fitting, as did the celebration ... or at least the intended celebration. After Huerter nailed the game-winner, he tried to replicate Rose's iconic reaction following his buzzer-beater three over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 playoffs. Cameras caught him celebrating with teammates before leaning back into Ayo Dosunmu and mimicking Rose's stone-cold face.

House of Highlights caught it on TikTok:

During his postgame interview on the court with Chicago Sports Network, Huerter confirmed that he immediately tried to pay homage to the Bulls legend:

“I was like the fifth option. The ball made it around to me. Just tried to get a shot off, honestly. I was thinking about doing the celebration. The DRose fall into your teammates but couldn’t pull it out," Huerter said.

Don't worry, Kevin, it's the thought that counts!

At the end of the day, the made bucket is what matters most. The victory gave Chicago its fourth straight, as well as moved them above .500 for the first time since November. This is now the latest into a season that the Bulls have held a winning record since the 2021-22 campaign (h/t Will Gottlieb). They finished as the East's sixth seed that year and lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.

Huerter also still got a tip of the cap from the man of the hour. Rose ended up signing the game ball for Huerter following the big shot, which must have made the victory that much sweeter.