Knicks’ Rose trying to add 3-point shot to his game

PHILADELPHIA — Derrick Rose has a personal game plan for the playoffs.

It's OK if you have to read that again, parse all its implications. It was only a week ago that everyone expected him to be traded. And the postseason? Well, that was just crazy talk.

But after a big, necessary win over the Magic on Wednesday night — spurred in part by Rose's 19 points — the Knicks find themselves in the unexpected position of still sort of having a shot at the playoffs. And that means Rose is in the even more unexpected position of trying to find a way for the Knicks to win if they get there. Enter the 3-point shot. “I'm trying to put pieces of my game together,” Rose said Thursday after practice at Temple University. “You see I'm not shooting threes yet, but hopefully, (I'll) start shooting them in the playoffs. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice and dedication to get there, but I'm just adding pieces of my game throughout the season.”

The shot is something Rose has been tweaking for some time — Jeff Hornacek said the two worked on it over the summer — but the point guard said he still isn't comfortable using it regularly in in-game situations. Rose's strength lies in his explosiveness while driving to the basket, and he's more or less been happy to live there for the last few years of his career.

He is averaging 1.1 3-pointers per game this season with a success rate of 22.8 percent, but his best year, his MVP season in 2010-11, included a more multi-faceted approach. He shot 33.2 percent from downtown and attempted 4.8 per game.

Rose has averaged 2.7 per game and shot 29.9 percent from 3-point range in his career, with highs of 5.3 per game in 2014-15 and 34.0 percent in 2013-14.

“That's where I think the pressure from point guards in this league comes (from),” Hornacek said. “Derrick can get to the basket at will, so they play behind and try to clog the lane. If he can knock down those 3s, then what's a team going to do?”