The Chicago Bulls have pulled their way back into the Play-In Tournament, which is impressive, considering they started the year 5-14. Perhaps more impressive, however, is the fact that they’ve performed so well with so many of their core players sidelined with various injuries.
Zach LaVine hasn’t played in a game since November 28, Nikola Vucevic has missed a string of games, and Torrey Craig has missed some time as well. With them absent, DeMar DeRozan and Coby White have had to carry a heavy load, which is no easy feat. Luckily for Chicago, they’ve been doing a great job and have kept the Bulls in the win column.
After the Bulls’ 116-110 loss to the New York Knicks, DeRozan spoke about how much they miss the players who have been out. (H/t Sam Smith of NBA.com)
“Not to make an excuse, but we miss a lot of critical guys at a critical time,” DeRozan said. “We’ve all been doing our part, hold down the fort as best as we can. But it’s come to the point where we’re missing other guys that can contribute, more bodies that we can throw out there. We need the rest of the troops, that type of feeling. We’ve been competing our butts off, but those stints like tonight. That’s when you wish you had a guy out there like Vooch [Vucevic], TC [Craig], Zach [LaVine] to kind of shift the game a little bit for us.”
The Bulls have been playing well, but they could use some reinforcements sooner rather than later.
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