APRIL 19, 10:30am: Caruso said that he expects to be able to play on Friday vs. Miami, per Jamal Collier of ESPN (Twitter link).
APRIL 18, 4:12pm: After undergoing further evaluation on his ankle, Caruso is experiencing reduced swelling and there’s increased optimism in his availability to play against the Heat on Friday in the play-in game, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, Caruso is expected to be a game-time decision.
APRIL 18, 6:45am: Bulls guard Alex Caruso has a “significant” left ankle sprain, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the injury casts doubt on Caruso’s availability for Friday’s do-or-die play-in game in Miami.
Caruso missed games on April 7 and April 12 due to what the Bulls referred to on the injury report as a left ankle contusion. The team indicated after Wednesday’s win over Atlanta that his latest injury is a re-aggravation of an earlier injury, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link).
The injury occurred when Andre Drummond stepped on Caruso’s right foot early in the second quarter (Twitter video link), sending him to the floor. According to Jamal Collier of ESPN, Caruso said that he aggravated his left foot issue while trying to keep his balance on that play. The veteran guard limped to the bench, then checked back into the game a few minutes later before eventually exiting for good until early in the third quarter.
“I do until I can’t,” Caruso said after the game when asked if he expects to play on Friday. “We’ll see how it goes the next couple days, but my mindset would be to play until my body tells me I can’t.”
Caruso is the Bulls’ top perimeter defender and helps balance a more offensive-minded starting lineup, so it would be a major loss if he’s unable to suit up on Friday. In that scenario, the team would likely have to count on another big offensive game like the one it got on Wednesday — Chicago’s four starters besides Caruso combined to score 107 of the club’s 131 points against Atlanta, with Coby White‘s career-high 42 leading the way.
As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes, White’s career high won’t technically go into the record books, which don’t count play-in performances, but White said he’s “definitely counting it.” Head coach Billy Donovan praised the Most Improved Player candidate after the win for his all-around contributions, not just his 42 points.
“He did a good job playing aggressively, took his threes when they were there. And he made a lot of good passes to guys. I thought he played a really complete game,” Donovan said. “I know the number 42 is a huge game and really phenomenal. But I thought he played a really complete game. I thought he defended. I thought he assisted, got downhill, made the game easy for guys.”
The Bulls are already missing Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball, and Onuralp Bitim due to season-ending injuries, so if they have to play without Caruso on Friday, they’ll lean more heavily on White and the rest of their healthy rotation players to try to keep their season alive.
Caruso’s loss would be significant, but clearly not at the level of Miami losing Butler and Rozier.
Defensively it hurts just as bad…
AC is a huge cog to the defence working…
It definitely doesn’t hurt as bad. Not close.
Bulls will have to give Jevon Carter more time at least 20 minutes. At least Carter is a veteran who has been in these situations before.
More likely that they’ll go to Dalen Terry to fill the wing spot and continue playing Ayo at the 2. Terry’s defense is the best fit to replace Caruso short-term; even though he can’t shoot worth a damn, he’s a strong finisher at the rim. Carter might get a bit more time, but his offense outright evaporated this season. I expect Craig and Green to soak up extra minutes over Carter.
Agreed. Bulls will go with a nine man rotation. DeRozan, Green, Vucevic, Ayo, White, Craig, Carter, Terry and Drummond. Should be okay.
He got rejected by the bottom of the rim last night.
Terry is a better option than Carter just let’s not oversell Terry. He’s one of the worst offensive players in the league. Ayo refused to pass to Terry on a fast break after Terry got rejected by the bottom of the rim, even though Terry was ahead of him.
He’s not really expected to be. His ability to finish through contact close to the basket is still valuable, especially for a team like the Bulls that isn’t always consistent for their offense.
Sometimes Terry appears unsure of himself which is understandable being a young player. Have seen more than once Terry take the ball close to the basket and then pass the ball away to someone else instead of just taking the shot up himself. Maybe Terry in time will become a decent role player.
Bulls have a good chance of making the playoffs now with Jimmy out. They are just going to get swept by Boston. Would be better to be in the lottery, but we all know Jerry only cares about the revenue from the two home playoff games.
I think Chicago could give Boston a bit of a run, especially if Caruso can’t play or is benched because it would force Donovan to play Craig at PF instead of Caruso.
Depends on the Vuc and White that show up. The best versions of them give them a shot at winning a few games.
Bulls might have the edge on paper… But they could simply screw it up…
Celtics should be Eastern finalists… But anything is possible…
White mamba. 3 steals plus 3 3s = #6