Before Saturday night's game—the first home contest since Kerr's and Van Lier's passing—the team played a memorial montage on the big screen in the stadium to the respectful silence of 22,000 Bulls fans. When it was all over, a rousing round of applause lifted the spirits of the arena—a fitting send-off for two guys who meant so much to the organization.
"That's what Chicago is," Paxson explains. "They take their sports heroes and love them. These two guys were certainly that."
And Chicago certainly does love them. Always will.
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
Deng Out for the Year?
Since the trade that brought in John Salmons, Luol Deng has seen decreasing floor time, but it turns out that might have had more to do with injury than talent. Deng, the team's captain, has been playing through pain the last few weeks but aggravated some pain he'd been having in his shin early in Saturday night's win over the Houston Rockets. Asking for precautionary x-rays, it became clear very quickly that Deng had what appeared to be a stress fracture in his tibia.
In casual conversation, Deng told HOOPSWORLD that he felt generally okay—he wasn't limping painfully or anything—but then admitted that missing the remainder of the season for the break to heal was a possibility. He'll likely have an MRI in the next day or two to solidify the prognosis.
Deng has already missed 13 games this season due to injury, and with the Bulls just a single game back of the Eastern Conference playoff picture this would hurt. However with the stellar play of Salmons, it may be possible to temper the blow. It's not as if Chicago was winning a championship this year, but they should have enough to firepower to sneak into the postseason, even without their $71-million man.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
UPDATE - Luol not missing the rest of the year? -
An MRI exam revealed Luol Deng does not have a stress fracture of his right tibia, which would have sidelined the fifth-year forward for the Bulls' final 22 games and — gulp — possibly beyond.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
Maybe even VDN will notice -
It's amazing what can happen when Bulls rookie Derrick Rose is allowed to stay on the floor for the entire fourth quarter.
Along with a healthy dose of Ben Gordon, Rose turned what appeared to be another loss into a wild 105-102 victory Saturday that had the United Center crowd and Houston's Ron
Rose scored 16 of his team-high 22 points and Gordon added 11 of his 15 in the fourth quarter as the pair accounted for all but one of the Bulls' points in a 23-3 run in the last six minutes.
Post a Comment