Bulls Injuries Continue to Mount
The Chicago Bulls are in third place in the NBA Eastern Conference at 8-5, but have lost two straight. The team lost to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night and lost Taj Gibson to injury as well.
Gibson now must sit next to Derrick Rose and other teammates on the bench as the team has a number of players recovering from injuries.
Rose continues to have issues with his left hamstring, which kept him out of the loss to Portland on Friday.
Rose and his teammates however cannot forget that it was about a year ago to the date that Rose when down with a medial meniscus tear in his knee in Portland and missed the rest of the season.
Each visit Chicago makes to Portland of late it seems bad things always happen. The Bulls were dominated by Damian Lillard the star point guard for Portland.
Of course, not only was Rose sidelined, but also the Bulls played without Kirk Hinrich who has bruised ribs and Pau Gasol who has a strained calf.
The Bulls after the loss to Portland dropped to 2 and 9 over their past 11 games and 7 straight in the building.
Besides the loss, the bigger worry on the night was that Chicago’s Taj Gibson sprained his ankle and he could be sidelined for a long stretch. He was helped from the court by his teammates,
Gibson left the Chicago locker room on crutches with his foot in a walking boot.
Joakim Noah the Chicago center and hardest working player on the club and possibly in the NBA, said after the game that is sucks that players get hurt, but one must keep moving forward since the games do not stop and no one feels sorry for the team or the player injured.
When Gibson reached the Bulls locker room, he found Rose there and Rose spoke with. The All-Star guard asked Gibson if the ankle he hurt was the same one that had been bothering him of late.
Gibson told Rose that in fact it was the same one. Rose’s advice was that it was not a sprint they were in, but a long marathon and you need to be completely healthy before going back out on the court.
Rose knows just what kind of pain Gibson is going through better than most.
Gibson will now miss Monday’s game versus Utah and Tuesday night in Denver.
Rose’s return is uncertain but could happen Monday in Utah or Tuesday at Denver. However, since the season is 82 games in length and only 13 have been played, Rose knows he has time to make sure his hamstring is 100% before risky re-injury.
His teammate Gibson now knows the same thing, and will want his ankle fully healed before stepping back on the court.
