Bulls Championship Aspirations Must Go On Without Rose

Everything was looking good for the Bulls.  The Bulls were cruising to a nice Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, in which they exhibited great defense and great team play.  Richard Hamilton was playing well, and Derrick Rose had one of his best games since returning from injury, finishing with 23-9-9.  Then, without a minute left, the Bulls championship hopes faded, as Derrick Rose sustained a non-contact knee injury, tearing his ACL.

The Bulls are going to be without Rose for the rest of the playoffs, and likely won’t get him back until sometime around November.

For whatever reason, Rose just couldn’t stay healthy.  No matter what, any return to action would be followed by some new injury.  It seemed cruel fate that the Bulls would be forced to get it done without Rose this playoffs, which is now the grim reality.

The Bulls need to embrace the challenge, and believe they can go on without Rose.  They did it in the regular season, going 18-9 without Rose, a 55-win pace.  They beat Miami once without him (as well as once with him playing completely ineffective after returning from injury), as well as the Celtics, and a litany of other teams.

Any other team would probably be completely done without their stars, but the Bulls aren’t any other team.  They have one of the best defenses in the league, which will allow them to muddy up games and deflate the score with their pace, creating opportunities for their team to win.  Their offense is still a top 10 offense without Rose, and their ball movement is probably second in the league only to the Spurs.  More importantly, they have proved to themselves that they have what it takes to win without their star.  Now they just need to remember what got them those wins in the regular season and translate that to the playoffs, with an even higher intensity and level of play.

Most people are completely discounting the Bulls title hopes, but I’m not one of them.  With that said, I no longer believe that they are going to win the championship, but I think they’re still poised to make a run deep into the playoffs.  I think they will for sure beat the 76ers still, and will probably make it past the Celtics/Hawks as well….they just match up too well with those teams.

Things will get difficult in the Conference Finals when the Bulls have to play the Heat.  The Bulls actually matchup pretty well with the Heat, even without Rose, as their defense really gives everyone on Miami not named Lebron James a ton of trouble.  I think the Bulls will show a lot of fight against Miami, but without Rose, they’re just going to come up short in crunch time, and as a result, their championship hopes will end there.

While I think the Rose injury does open up the championship gates for the Miami Heat and Lebron James, I still don’t think they’re going to get that championship they’re chasing.  Just like the last lockout, I think the Spurs are going to be taking home the championship.

As for Rose, hopefully his recovery goes well, and we can get back to enjoying him play sometime early next season.  I have no doubt in my mind that someone with Rose’s drive will be able to come back better and stronger than they were before this injury.

Original Story: http://dabullz.com/2012/04/29/bulls-c...