INJURY BUG

The playoffs are here and lets just say, it hasnt got off to a good start for a few teams. Not to over look Andrew Bynum's triple double, Kevin Durant's game winnning shot against the Mavs, or even the Clippers 1 point win after being down by 27...but the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls are in big trouble and we're only one game into the playoffs.

Lets start with the Knicks. With 6:08 to go in the 3rd quarter, rookie Iman Shumpert was on the fast break...went into his crossover, but never finished it.  He tore a lateral meniscus and is expected to miss approximately six to eight months. Shumpert is their best on ball defenders and the guy they were going to use to guard Heat superstar Dwyane Wade. When the injury happened, the Knicks were down 66-40. They would go on to lose the game 100-67. With Shump being out, that means New York will have to step up their team defense and be better on the offensive end. What I mean by that is, limit the TURNOVERS. In the 2nd quarter, they had 13 turnovers. You wont win any game if you have that many turnovers in a quarter, yet alone against the Heat. Thats what they want you to do, they swarm to the ball and make you play faster than you want which leads to fastbreak points. Game 2 tonight at 7pm Heat vs Knicks.

Now, to the Bulls. Anyone who is a basketball fan, is crushed to see it happen or even hear the news. Late in the 4th quarter the 76ers were making a run and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau put his starters back in to close the game out and not give Philly any type of momentum going in to next game. Not that it was a bad decision...most coaches would have done the samething in a playoff game. Only in this decision, the Bulls would lose their Superstar and 2011 league MVP in the process. Derrick Rose drove the lane and went into his jump stop that he uses so often, and he went down...and did not get up. His left leg buckled and at the point as a Bulls fan and NBA fan, you did not want to see that happen. D.Rose season is over. Now people are starting to wonder how far the Bulls can go without their superstar. I think they should make it to the next round, but the series might go a litte longer than expected now. I can tell you this though, the chances of them winning an NBA Championship this year is a very high 0!!! And probably not next year either. It was just a routine basketball play that went bad. But with the shortened NBA season this year, there were far more injuries that happened versus a full 82 game season. I can certainly tell you this, the Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be interesting to watch.