MIAMI -- Miami guard Dwyane Wade got the news during the middle of his game Saturday afternoon, and he was shaken.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose -- like Wade, a native of Chicago -- had been seriously hurt earlier in the day against Philadelphia. He later was ruled out for the rest of the playoffs due to a torn ACL in his left knee.
“It’s very unfortunate,’’ Wade said after his team’s 100-67 win over New York in Game 1 of their first-round series. “When I heard about it, actually during the game, I said a prayer for him and his family. You never want to see anyone get injured, especially a player his caliber. Very unfortunate. The only thing you hope is he’ll do his best to rehab and get back to being the D-Rose that everyone loves.’’
The loss of Rose might have shaken up the Eastern Conference playoff race significantly considering the Bulls are the No. 1 seed and Miami is No. 2. But Heat forward LeBron James didn’t want to look at it that way.
“I’m worried about the Knicks,’’ James said. “It’s unfortunate that injury has happened for him and that team, but I’m worried about the Knicks. I’m not worried about the Bulls.’’
Rose won last year’s MVP while James is expected to be handed this year’s trophy. Rose went down in a heap with 1:22 left in Chicago’s 103-91 playoff win.
“It is unfortunate,’’ said Miami forward Chris Bosh. “You never want to see anybody go down. ... Hopefully, he can heal properly and play another day.’’
That day won’t be until next season.
As for this campaign, the Heat can’t run into the Bulls until the Eastern Conference finals. It should be noted Chicago went 1-1 against Miami this season without Rose, and the Bulls beat the Heat 96-86 April 12 in Chicago when Rose shot just 1 of 13 and was benched for the night late in regulation and during overtime.
“They played without him all year. They have a comfort zone,’’ Wade said of Rose having missed 27 regular season games and the Bulls going 18-9 in those games. “Obviously, when you don’t have the MVP of the league, a dynamic player like D-Rose, it changes things. But it’s not our concern right now.’’
Interestingly, the NBA recently announced the two biggest selling jerseys during the regular season belonged to Rose and New York guard Jeremy Lin. The Heat won’t see Lin this series because of a knee injury and now have no chance of running into Rose.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
