Everything was going perfectly for the Bulls in Game 1 of their series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia was having no luck scoring on the Bulls’ defense, Lou Williams was never able to get anything going, Derrick Rose was approaching a triple-double, and new addition Rip Hamilton had 19 points on 6-7 shooting from the field.
Then it happened. With the Bulls up 12 and 1:09 left in the game, Derrick Rose was driving to the basket, and then he went down. Hard. Rose looked to be in a great deal of pain, and the air was instantly sucked out of the building. Rose eventually limped off with help, and the Bulls held on for an easy 103-91 win, but everyone in Chicago is wondering about the left knee of their young superstar point guard.
If Rose’s injury is serious, there’s still a good chance the team will get through the first round, but it would be almost impossible for any team to make a serious run at a championship with their best player in street clothes. All the right things happened for the Bulls in the 1st 47 minutes of Saturday’s game, but everything about their playoff run is now very much an open question after Rose’s injury.