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By the end of Utah's 105-96 overtime win over the Chicago Bulls, the Jazz, the media, and all 18,811 at Vivint Smart Home Arena realized what they had seen.
Raul Neto thoroughly outplayed Derrick Rose in the extra session.
Yes, Neto, Utah's rookie starting point guard had gotten the best of the former NBA MVP. Offensively, Neto continuously got himself into the lane, beating Rose off the dribble, creating shots and opportunities for others.
Defensively, Neto was the linchpin to Rose's tough night: a 6-of-21 shooting performance, 14 points and three turnovers. It was a startling outcome, considering the perception of both players. Rose has and maybe always will battle injury, but he's still Rose, still capable of exploding. Neto is the second-round pick, the emergency starter this season with Dante Exum on the shelf.
And yet, in overtime, it was no contest.
"He was a heck of a competitor tonight," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "He had some tough matchups, and tonight Derrick Rose came to play. Raul just did a terrific job fighting him the whole time."
The differences in the two on Monday night's final stat sheet made things pretty clear. Rose finished with a minus-14 for the night, while Neto was plus-18, by far the best plus/minus among the starters. Neto, like Rose, finished with 14 points, a career-high, only he accomplished that total on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Whenever a play broke down, Neto was able to use his dribble creatively, and wreak havoc on Chicago's defense. In response, Rose often forced shots.
"I tried to fight every time on defense, and on offense I tried to be aggressive and find my shot," Neto said. "Derrick is a great player, I've been watching him play since he was an MVP. I just came out there not afraid and be aggressive on defense, and try to make him make mistakes. I thought my teammates did a great job of helping me. Any time I got beat, Rudy Gobert was there to make him take a tough shot. It was great team defense."
An overtime sequence spoke volumes. On one end, Neto stripped Rose and knocked the ball off his body out of bounds. Rose then tried to pressure the rookie, but Neto beat him into the paint and created an open shot for Derrick Favors.
Frustrated, Rose then went back at Neto, ignoring the Bulls offense, only to miss a shot. At that point, Utah was up 99-95, the game seemed academic. The Jazz would go on to win handily.
"He was huge tonight, battling against Rose as a rookie," Utah forward Gordon Hayward said. "I thought he was great. He knocked down a bunch of shots, and I thought he played really well in the overtime."
twitter: @tjonessltrib Storylines
• Raul Neto scored a career-high 14 points, on 6-of-8 shooting.
• Neto held Derrick Rose to 6-of-21 shooting from the field.
• The Jazz defeat the Bulls 105-96.