The Chicago Bulls are in serious trouble coming into the last game of the playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.
After leading 3-1 early in the series, the Bulls now face the home crowd in Brooklyn for game seven to decide who advances to the next round of the NBA Eastern playoffs.
However, being the away team doesn’t appear to be the biggest problem Chicago faces.
It seems as if each year the Bulls become plagued with injuries come postseason and this year serves as no difference.
We all remember last year how the ever so promising 2011 MVP Derrick Rose tore his anterior cruciate ligament the very first game of the playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers.
They would end up losing that series in a quick playoff exit and enter the offseason way earlier than projected.
Even without Rose for the full 2012-2013 season, the Bulls finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with a major contribution from teammates such as Loul Deng, Marco Bellinelli, and Carlos Boozer.
Not to mention both backup guards Kirk Hinrich and Nate Robinson, who stepped up to replace the hole that the Rose injury left the team.
However, the only problem is that Hinrich has been out the past two games with a bruised calf and will probably be a game time decision (although he may play).
Hinrich did very well in this series keeping Deron Williams from penetrating the paint and it has shown that Nate Robinson simply cannot handle him at all.
Loul Deng has a serious chance of being kept out of game seven as well, for he is going through screenings for possible meningitis.
In the past three games, Joe Johnson has shot about 50% from the field exposing yet another weakness in Chicago’s defence.
Whenever Deng is on the court matching up with the shooting guard, Johnson doesn’t get the ball as much opposed to when Belinelli is defending him.
Backup power forward Taj Gibson is another one on the list battling illness and a strong presence down low when Boozer needs rest.
This team has been productive on the offensive side but due to their lack of speed on defence and injuries, the team and its fans are screaming for Rose to get back on the court and lift them over the edge.
As of late January, Derrick Rose was cleared by his doctor to participate in full contact practices and was officially cleared to play a full season game with the team in early March.
Rose has even been as far as participating in pre-game warm-ups with the rest of the Bulls.
Rose has stated to the media that he will not play until he is able to dunk off his left foot (the side that the knee that was injured), but is it worth the risk of another early playoff exit?
How does the locker room feel about the goal he set for his return when his active teammates are throwing up at halftime from illnesses or playing through foot injuries of their own?
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