Somewhere in Miami, the organization is already popping champagne bottles after hearing that Derrick Rose tore his ACL in the final minutes of their opening game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Rumor has it that they are passing around a thank you card for everyone to sign and will send it express to Tom Thibodeau for keeping last year's MVP in the game so late, despite the fact that victory was in hand.
The analysts, players, former coaches and everyone else seem rather split on whether Thibodeau made the right decision to have Rose in so late in the game. But it seems like a no brainer to me. Rose had no business remaining on the court and at that stage in the game, it is Thibodeau's responsibility to sit his star and give his body a little more time to recover for Monday's game.
Instead of preparing for game two as a full squad, Rose will not be with the team. His ACL is in pieces now, much like Chicago's already fragile chances of reaching the NBA finals.
Sure, it was a twelve point game still with a little less than a minute and a half to go. Sure, the 76ers had made a small run late in the game to close the gap of a former twenty point lead. And sure, it is the playoffs so starters will see a few more minutes than usual. But Thibodeau clearly must have forgot that Rose only played in 39 games this year due to a variety of injuries.
Who could have foreseen an injury of this magnitude for Rose? Certainly nobody expected his campaign to end short with this serious of a result. But ask this question instead: how likely is it, given his injury history this season, that Rose would have sustained an injury of any type that would set him out for a prolonged period of time? When the question changes, the odds skyrocket astronomically.
The Bulls could not have expected an ACL tear. But at that stage, why take the chance to let him re-sprain his ankle, tweak his sensitive back, or suffer some other type of injury that would shelf him for part of or the entire playoffs? The game was well within hand, so save the "the game was still within reach" argument.
If we want to keep playing the odds game, are the odds higher that the 76ers close the 12 point lead with 1:20 to go despite no crunch-time scorer or that Rose suffers any type of injury during that time? Thibodeau made an error in judgement and now the Bulls must face the consequences.
The only thing that stood in the way of the Miami Heat was the Chicago Bulls with a healthy Derrick Rose. Now, the Heat have their path to the finals cleared (sorry, Boston, I do not like your odds in a seven game series).
On second thought, Miami should at least send something bigger to Thibodeau. And whatever it is, maybe they can at least send a set of crutches for Rose. It certainly was a selfless gift from Thibodeau.
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