Imrem: For Bulls and fans, no Rose injury is minor
Friday night on Halloween, the United Center came dressed as a beer commercial.
Not just any beer commercial … the Budweiser commercial titled "Friends are Waiting" ... a tear-jerker that has gone viral.
Maybe you've seen it: A man goes out drinking with his buddies and leaves his dog home alone overnight.
The dog pouts until the owner shows up in the morning with apologetic hugs and kisses.
You see where I'm going with this?
The house is the United Center. The missing man is Derrick Rose. And the dog is the Bulls crowd.
After rehabbing his second knee injury, Rose made it back to play a regular-season home game for the first time in nearly a year.
Bulls fans enthusiastically greeted him until … there's that dreaded "until" that might stalk Derrick Rose for the rest of his career.
In this case it was until Rose came up limping, hopping, hobbling with 4:02 left in the second quarter.
Rose kept playing but exited with 2:38 remaining in the third quarter, leaving the Bulls to match up against the Cavaliers without him during the game's final 20 minutes.
The Bulls gave it a good shot, perhaps their best shot, before the Cavs won out 114-108 in overtime.
Now the questions are how many times Rose is going to be injured in his career and how many times Bulls fans will have to welcome him back?
"Left ankle sprain," the injury update read. "Questionable return."
"It's minor," Rose said hopefully, "and I'll try to go (Saturday night) in Minnesota."
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau looked like he lost his best friend, which is his customary look after a loss.
But this time included the added stress of Rose being hurt, mildly or badly, and Thibodeau being asked his level of concern.
"We'll see," he said. "I want to talk to the trainers and doctors. I'm concerned whenever a player is hurt, but hopefully he'll be fine."
As Rose pointed out, he didn't tear anything. A sprained ankle generally isn't season-threatening.
Taj Gibson suffered the same injury - "sprained left ankle" was the diagnosis for both - and returned to the game.
So maybe this was just a scare, but this is Derrick Rose. The Bulls' championship hopes depend on him and every little injury following the big injuries becomes problematic.
"My ankle is throbbing a little bit right now," he said. "But it's just from playing basketball. I am happy it is not that serious."
Easy for him to say. A team, city and league has been through this before. Even a head cold is a big deal when it's Rose's nose sniffling.
The Bulls can play without Rose. They're used to it after he missed all but 10 games during the past two seasons.
But can the Bulls beat LeBron James without Rose? They came close on this night with Kirk Hinrich filling the scoring void and everybody else helping.
The Cavs beat the Bulls on the boards all night, however. Combine that with Rose's absence and Cleveland was able to hold on to leave each team with a 1-1 record.
While in the game, Rose was able to neutralize James on the scoresheet. In the end, though, Rose had 20 points in 25 minutes to James' 36 points in 42 minutes.
With and without Rose on the floor, the Bulls and Cavaliers played like this was more than merely the second game of the season.
We're talking about teams that are expected to compete for the NBA East title … if LeBron James and Derrick Rose remain healthy.
But while James' health is taken for granted, Rose's fragility is, too.
"I guess this is part of the process," Rose said. "Guys are testing me now. I think I'll be able to get through it."
The only thing Bulls fans can do is wait patiently and cheer wildly every time Rose returns home in one piece.