Derrick Rose on I Can't Breathe Shirt: I made my point

[SOURCE:ESPN] For the first time since wearing "I can't breathe" shirt in support of Eric Garner before Saturday's game against the Golden State Warriors, Bulls star Derrick Rose explained his decision after Monday's practice.

"I'm just happy that people paid attention to it," Rose said. "I think it touched a lot of people because I grew up in an impoverished area like that, and sometimes [situations like that] happen a lot of times. It just touched a lot of people, and I just wanted to make sure that I got my point across."

"I grew up in it," Rose said. "I saw it every day. Not killing or anything, but I saw the violence every day and just seeing what can happen. If anything, I'm just trying to change the thoughts of the kids' minds across the nation, but it starts here."

"I wouldn't say I'm going to do it every time, it's just something that I just felt," Rose said of making such a public statement. "Usually I stay out of politics and police brutality. I'm not saying all cops are bad or anything, I'm just saying what happened them days is uncalled for, and I think that hurt a lot of people. It hurt the nation.

"But my biggest concern is the kids. I know what they're thinking right now. I was one of them kids. When you live in an area like that and you don't got any hope, and police are treating you any way. I'm not saying all police [officers] are treating kids bad, but when you live in an area like that, it gives you another reason to be bad. My biggest concern are the kids and making sure that my son grows up in a safe environment."

Rose acknowledged that one of the reasons he decided to wear the shirt was because of his son, P.J., who turned 2 in October.

"That's one of the reasons why I wore the shirt," he said. "I'm a parent now. Probably two years ago, it probably would have been different. I probably would not have worn the shirt. But now I'm a dad, it just changed my outlook on life, period. I don't want my son growing up being scared of the police or even having that thought on his mind that something like that could happen.

"I have a cousin. That easily could have been him, or it easily could have been one of our relatives. It's sad that people lost their lives over that."

Did the Miami Heat lose games to avoid playing the Bulls or Nets?

With the NBA playoffs about to start there is a conspiracy theory floating around that the Miami Heat threw games to avoid playing either the Miami Heat or the Brooklyn Nets. Now the same people who believe that probably believe in UFO's, Big Foot, that Tupac is still alive, and that WWE Wrestling is real. (they could be right about that last one)

They claim that since both the Nets and Bulls have winning records against the Heat that Miami is trying to avoid both teams in the second round of the playoffs. Now those people forget that in the playoffs things are different and the games slow down. Sweeping a team in the regular season can mean nothing in the post season. Especially not against a playoff tested team such as the Heat.

There are reasons why the Miami Heat should beat both teams.

Chicago has a great defense (actually the best in the NBA) but at the time of this writing are the worst scoring team in the NBA with a 93.8 average. Yup, that's right both Milwaukee and Philadelphia score more per game than them.

Chicago has no go to player in the clutch for a basket. While D.J. Augustin may be their leading scorer it's a stretch ( a Plastic Man like stretch ) to say that he is anywhere near clutch. Joakim Noah has the heart of a line but he has the offensive game of one too. I don't think the Bulls can score enough points on a consistent basis to beat the Heat.

The Brooklyn Nets no doubt have played very well lately. But they wont beat the Heat either. Does anyone really believe that a team that has had many chances to narrow the gap between themselves and Toronto in head to head matches and has failed to do so is a threat to Miami?

Brooklyn relies on two players who get discounts when they go grocery shopping by showing their AARP cards. Those players would be Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet. They were great once but can they stay on the floor long enough to make a difference?

Their best player Deron Williams has to be constantly reminded that he is the best player. Jason Kidd has had a great rookie season as a coach but we simply have no idea how he will coach in the playoffs. Will he defer to the veterans even if they are not playing well, which big man loses playing time with the emergence of Jason Plumlee, how short of a leash will he have on Andray (there's no such thing as a bad shot) Blatche?

Because of all those reasons I believe the Heat have nothing to worry about if they face the Bulls or Nets and have not thrown any games to avoid them. What do you think?

George Cook AAReports.com.