Derrick Rose Out

Late in game 1 yesterday, Bulls' star point guard Derrick Rose suffered a freak injury and tore his ACL.  Needless to say, Rose will be out for the remainder of the playoffs.

I would like to preface this article by stating that while Rose may play for the team the Sixers are currently facing in the playoffs, you never want to see something like this happen to anyone.  It's bad for Rose and the Bulls, it's bad for the league, and it's bad for the game of basketball.

Having said that, the whole dynamic of this series has now changed with Rose's injury.  After yesterday's game, any chances of winning the series seemed extremely difficult.  The Sixers started the game ice cold from the floor, and really struggled to keep pace with Chicago.  The Bulls took a commanding lead early on, and the Sixers were never able to fully recover.  Every time they would make the game close, the Sixers would then sit back and wait for things to happen.  Instead of consistently keeping their foot on the gas, the Sixers were very sporatic and struggled to find a rhythm in the game.

But looking ahead to game 2, the absence of Derrick Rose makes this a completely different series.  The Bulls proved during the regular season that they can win without Rose, but this injury has to be extremely deflating to a team with such high expectations.

As the number 1 seed in the East, the Bulls came into the playoffs expecting to compete with the Heat for the Eastern conference crown.  Now the Bulls are a far less scary team in the absence of their best player.

So what does this all mean for the Sixers?  The Sixers really can't get too carried away at this point.  The Bulls are still a very strong defensive team even without Rose in the line up.  But with the injury I do see hope for the Sixers.  Without Rose, the Bulls don't have anyone that they can go to when the game is on the line.  If the Sixers can manage to keep games close and then pounce at the end, I think this series could get very interesting in a hurry.

Again the Sixers can't be too focused on Rose's injury.  Right now their main goal has to be taking game 2 on Tuesday night, and returning to Philadelphia with a 1-1 split.