According to a Chicago Bulls press release, Bulls All-Star point guard Derrick Rose underwent successful surgery today to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Rose injured his knee two weeks ago on April 28th in Game 1 of Chicago's first round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
After driving to the basket with just over a minute left in regulation and with the Bulls up by 12 points, Rose did a jump stop and immediately winced and passed the ball off. After he regained himself and came down to the floor, he immediately grabbed for his knee.
As the Bulls medical staff rushed the floor to assess the situation, courtside microphones picked up his voice saying he'd heard something “pop.”
He was eventually helped off the court by Chicago's trainers and not long after the team officially confirmed that he'd torn his ACL.
It was later determined that the best course of action would be for Derrick to undergo rehab in order to strengthen the quad muscle in his left leg before performing the necessary surgery. As a result, Rose had been a fixture at both the Berto Center and United Center while receiving treatment in preparation for his procedure.
The surgery was conducted Saturday morning at Rush University Medical Hospital according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.
Dr. Brian Cole, the Bulls’ team physician, performed the surgery using a graft from Rose’s patellar tendon, the report said.
After missing just six total games in his first three NBA season's, Rose had missed 27 games during the truncated 2011-2012 season due to a variety of ailments which included turf toe, a lower back strain, pulled groin, sprained ankle and an injury to his foot before the last and final injury – and also the most serious – that would sideline him for the rest of the Bulls playoff run.
Without Derrick at the helm, Chicago would go on to be eliminated from the NBA Playoffs in six games at the hands of the Sixers on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Local
Coming off Rose's MVP season and the Bulls elimination in five games by the Miami Heat in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, many felt that with a year of experience under their belt in Tom Thibodeau's system and with last year's disappointment still fresh, the Bulls had a realistic chance to win an NBA Championship this season.
But injuries to not only Rose, but the rest of the Bulls key players would unfortunately defer that dream.
Derrick Rose is expected to be out of action for at least six to nine months and isn't expected to take the floor again until some time after the 2013 All-Star game.
