Rose Takes a Fall, Out For Playoffs

By Ian Loria | Published April 29, 2012

Just when Derrick Rose was on the brink of alleviating fears that he would be unable to fully recover from a nagging ankle injury, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Rose landed awkwardly after a jump stop and fell to the floor with 80 seconds left in the Bulls’ 103-91 victory over the Philadelpha 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round NBA playoff series at the United Center. The team later announced that Rose had torn his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. It’s the sixth different injury Rose has suffered this season.

“It’s the saddest win,” Kyle Korver said. “But we have to pick ourselves up. We’ve played a lot of games without him. Maybe it was just getting us ready for this.”

Rose sat out the regular-season finale and has played in only five games in the last six weeks because of a nagging right ankle injury. After shaking off a slow start in which he missed six of his first seven shots, he looked anything but rusty in finishing with 23 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in 37:13.

Sixers coach Doug Collins waved for Bulls’ trainers after Rose went down. Rose was writhing in pain and clutching his left knee before being helped off the court and into the locker room by trainer Fred Tedeschi and assistant trainer Jeff Tanaka.

Afterward, the Bulls’ locker room felt as if the team had lost. Rose’s teammates didn’t know how serious the injury was, but their fears were realized a few hours later when the team released a statement.

(via Sun Times)