Was This Over Before... Before It Ever Began?

Back in 2004 when I was a sophomore in high school, I started to going to my school's football games. It began as a "Let's get points for the Homecoming competition", but I enjoyed myself so much I made it to every home game (and playoff game home or away) after that. Aurora Christian was just discovering its entry into the world of competitive IHSA football, and in the first year under Don Beebe, we were ready for a title run. We'd won our first 2 playoff games, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Everything seemed to be going right until a couple days before the game. One of our star wide receivers in his first year with the team woke up one morning with chest pain and went to the hospital. It turned out that a preexisting heart condition flared up requiring surgery and he missed that game. Our hearts and prayers went out to him. We would up losing that game, but said star would make a full recovery and finally get to play for the basketball team. His debut at home was inspiring and his first basket nearly blew the roof off the old "801" gym on the west side of Aurora.

This is the kind of inspiring story Chicago Bulls fans are hoping for in these playoffs, seeing a similar unexpected turn. I found some reminders of my sophomore year of high school in the hours since Derrick Rose tore his ACL against the 76ers. I wasn't watching the game, but was following along on Twitter. When I heard the news, my heart sank. Obviously tearing a ligament in your knee isn't anywhere near as serious as a heart problem, but both events see a final result of a star missing out on big playoff games. I along with all of Chicago am praying that Derrick will have a speedy, but more importantly full recovery to come back and have the impact he has had his first 3 1/2 years in the NBA.

What does this mean for the Bulls? The obvious initial reaction that everyone (myself and Geoffy included) comes to is that the Bulls are no longer title contenders. It's hard to say for certain, but thinking about it, that's the most likely scenario. The best case, of course, would be that the Bulls come together again as a team and resolve to win for Derrick as it's what he wants them to do. Worst case, we see a second round exit to Boston or another elimination at Miami's hands. Unfortunately the second scenario seems more likely.

In order for this best case scenario to come to fruition, so many things have to go right. Some teams may have to lose for the Bulls to get a better matchup (I'm looking at you, Miami.) If there does end up being a Bulls-Heat East Finals, Bosh needs to be invisible while Boozer shines, Noah keeps bringing the energy, Korver keeps shooting lights out, John Lucas becomes this year's Jason Terry (Irrational Confidence guy), and so on and so forth. Realistically, I don't think it's going to happen. But I will support this team on their run however deep they go.

For those of you who want to blame Coach Thibodeau... just stop it. No one on the Bulls is blaming him; heck, everyone came to his defense. Rose missed 27 games this season. He needed to get back in rhythm with his teammates. The only way to do that is to play. He needed to get back into some key situations. His knee injury could have happened at any time. It's a double standard to blame a non-contact injury, something that could have happened at any time during the game, on the coach when said injury could have happened in the 2nd quarter yesterday, or in the opening minutes on Tuesday. There was no way to predict this could have happened. Yes, it follows Murphy's Law, but that's more of a reactive thing than a proactive one. And Derrick certainly isn't blaming his coach. Why should we?

Bulls fans, enjoy the ride as long as we have it this season. Even if the Bulls get knocked out, this group will develop a tough mentality and use this experience for next season. ACL injuries take a while to come back from, plus if Deng decides to have wrist surgery, we're down our top 2 guys. But this is a deep team, and they won't make any excuses. They will do what they can to stay near the top of the East again while their heroes recover. And be ready next spring, because this team isn't going away. Godspeed, Chicago Bulls.