Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso suffered a “important” left ankle sprain throughout the third quarter of Wednesday evening’s 131-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks within the play-in match.
Caruso, 30, didn’t return. He completed with six factors on two 3-pointers and added two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes of motion. The seven-year veteran’s damage places his availability unsure.
Bulls heart Andre Drummond stepped on Caruso’s proper foot within the third at heart courtroom. After the win, Caruso stated that whereas making an attempt to catch himself, he aggravated a left foot concern that had bothered him towards the tip of the common season.
“[Alex Caruso] re-aggravated the identical left ankle that’s been bothering him for fairly a while now, I feel his standing for tomorrow could be very a lot in query.”@ShamsCharania updates on Alex Caruso’s damage pic.twitter.com/ow3MWYy6IT
— Run It Again (@RunItBackFDTV) April 18, 2024
“It was the identical one I’d been coping with the final couple weeks of the season that we’d been managing and determining,” Caruso stated of the damage.
“I attempted to tape it up, take some extra time once I acquired on the market and I used to be form of ineffective, so it was in all probability higher to have a few of these guys end the sport. They usually did an important job.”
As for his present standing, the Texas A&M product may play by way of the damage.
“I do till I can’t,” Caruso stated about whether or not he expects to play Friday. “We’ll see the way it goes the subsequent couple days, however my mindset could be to play till my physique tells me I can’t.”
Chicago Bulls’ Alex Caruso (left ankle sprain) questionable for play-in match recreation at Miami Warmth
Bulls coach Billy Donovan determined to take Caruso out throughout the third quarter after seeing him “hobble” after Drummond stepped on his foot.
“I simply didn’t like the best way he [was moving]. He didn’t ask to return out, however I don’t assume he felt like he may transfer.’”
Alex Caruso suffered an obvious damage after this collision with Andre Drummond.
He has but to return to the sport. pic.twitter.com/5Uc4c0WiKk
— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2024
On Friday, the Bulls can avenge their loss from final 12 months’s play-in recreation, which was additionally in Miami. Chicago led by three factors with three minutes remaining earlier than the Warmth ended the sport on a 15-1 run.
“I keep in mind that airplane experience again house vividly, everyone was simply annoyed,” Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan stated after Wednesday’s victory.
“That feeling sucked. I do know for me that was one factor that was on my thoughts as soon as I spotted we have been going again to Miami, to not have that very same feeling.”
A win at Miami would put the Bulls again within the NBA playoffs for the primary time since 2022, after they misplaced a first-round sequence 4-1 to the Milwaukee Bucks. In the event that they beat the Warmth, the Bulls would face the top-seeded Boston Celtics on Sunday at TD Backyard.
