The date was Apr. 28, 2012. With the clock running down on a Game 1 win for the Chicago Bulls in front of a packed United Center crowd, raucous cheers quickly turned into deafening silence. Chicago’s favorite athlete, Derrick Rose, crumpled to the floor after a non-contact injury and writhed in pain.

Several hours later, all of Chicago’s worst fears came true: it was a torn ACL for the Bulls’ star point guard. It not only ruined the team’s playoff run that season, but it also ended up costing Rose his entire 2012-13 campaign. As more time passed, Rose slowly transformed from Chicago’s favorite athlete to its most polarizing one.

Finally, he came back in the 2013-14 season, but after just 10 games, he went down again. This time it was a torn meniscus. Following this injury, his bright NBA future was in serious doubt. Could he ever come back from another devastating knee injury?

Until recently, the answer to that question seemed like a maybe at best. Now, it seems like Rose, is in fact, back. While he’s still probably a step or so slower than he was during his 2011 MVP season, he has gotten past the mental aspect of his recovery. He is no longer playing scared and has gotten back to being an explosive playmaker.

The best evidence of this is the killer instinct he’s displayed in the last several games for the Bulls. Respectively, over his past three games he has scored 29, 25 and 20 points. More importantly, he has played his best basketball in the fourth quarter. He had a pep in his step that he hasn’t had since tearing his ACL.

With a supporting cast among the deepest in the NBA with key contributors like Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Mike Dunleavy, Kirk Hinrich, Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott (once he returns from injury), Aaron Brooks and E’Twaun Moore, Rose has less pressure to score this season than ever before.

Whereas Rose would normally have to try to take over in the fourth quarter no matter what, he can now facilitate if he doesn’t have it on a particular night. However, lately, he’s had it night in and night out. Now that he’s seemingly past the mental aspect of his recovery, Rose is on his way to becoming an elite player once again. For the Bulls, that’s news they’ve been waiting on for years.

For teams around the league, it’s news they hoped they’d never hear because the Bulls are now a force to be reckoned with.