The Chicago Bulls suffered a bad loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday night, losing 100-91. The Magic are one of the teams that look like they will be battling for one of the last spots in the NBA Play-In Tournament in the Eastern Conference along with the Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers.
Losing games like Monday night won’t help the Bulls in their pursuit of a playoff spot. But, more concerning than the loss to Orlando is the status of All-Star DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan was forced from the game late in the fourth quarter with a hip injury that he revealed he has been dealing with for some time now.
“It was bothering me the whole game,” DeRozan said. “I just felt it. I didn’t want to risk nothing. Hurting it any more, what it was or anything. Just the accumulation of what it’s been, attempting to play on it.”
The hip issue is something that DeRozan has been listed on the injury report with recently, as it caused him to miss last Monday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. He has been toughing it out for his team but will undergo more testing on Tuesday.
The Bulls have two more games before the All-Star break as they are playing a back-to-back set against the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and Thursday. It would not be shocking if DeRozan missed at least one of those games and sat out the All-Star game to ensure that he is as close to 100 percent healthy for the stretch run of the season as possible. But, ruling himself out isn’t something that DeRozan is ready to do just yet.
“It’s too early to say. I always take everything day by day,” DeRozan said. “Get some rest, wake up, see how I feel tomorrow, get it checked out, get a better idea of what exactly it is, have a better idea of how to treat it and how to deal with it. It’s something that I’ve been playing on for the last month and a half, just never said anything. Just want to get it right, especially going to the break.”
DeRozan can’t pinpoint exactly when the injury occurred, but January 9th against the Boston Celtics when he left early with a quad injury was a reference point. He said he has been dealing with the hip injury for at least 10 games before that.
Based on that timeline, this is an injury that DeRozan has been dealing with for possibly the last two months. Despite that, he has still played at a high level this season, averaging 25.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The injury really seems to be hampering him recently as DeRozan has failed to score 20 points in four straight games, all of which the Bulls have lost. Without him playing at a high level, Chicago will likely continue tumbling down the standings.
Source: yardbarker.com
