Bulls get good news on LaVine injury; Donovan ready to embrace the pain
For the Bulls this week, the lesser of the bad news counts as something positive.
An MRI exam revealed no significant structural damage to Zach LaVine's left knee, the Bulls announced Saturday, and the all-star guard is not expected to miss significant time.
LaVine was injured during the first quarter of Friday's loss to Golden State. It appeared to happen when he landed after grabbing an offensive rebound. But LaVine never went to the ground and kept playing for roughly 30 seconds before taking an intentional foul and walking directly to the locker room.
Before the Bulls played in Boston on Saturday, Bulls coach Billy Donovan described a conversation he had with LaVine on the way to the airport late Friday night.
"He just kind of said the same thing that I thought, he kind of came down funny, it just didn't feel right," Donovan said.
"He's in good spirits. After meeting with the doctors and what he experienced, he didn't feel believe it was something serious, but obviously the MRI gives you the real results. He was in good spirits when I spoke to him and he was pretty optimistic that he'd be OK."
Donovan didn't want to put a timetable on LaVine's potential return until the all-star guard has a chance to get through a few days of rest and rehab.
A week ago, the Bulls were riding a nine-game win streak, stretching their lead in the Eastern Conference and enjoying their surprising status. They knew the schedule was about to get difficult, but no one imagined how tough it would get, losing LaVine, Derrick Jones Jr. and Lonzo Ball to injuries in three straight games.
Ball sat out against the Celtics with left knee soreness. Jones suffered a hyperextended knee in the opening minute of the Brooklyn game. Alex Caruso (protocols), Javonte Green (adductor strain) and Tyler Cook (ankle sprain) were already on the shelf. Donovan said Green has started running and his rehab is going well.
"I don't like to see any of these guys having to sit out or I don't like anybody having to deal with COVID, right?" Donovan said. "So when I say this, I say this from a competitive standpoint: I like when stuff like this happens, because to me you find out what you're all about and where your mettle is.
"We may not have enough tonight, but you want to be able to walk off that court and know that you competed at a level and controlled the things you can control."
There's no question when things turned sour against Brooklyn and Golden State, the Bulls stopped competing. They ended up allowing 138 points in each game, the most they've allowed in a two-game span since 1982.
"I think for any team that really wants to win, you have to deal with suffering," Donovan said. "And I think how you deal with the suffering is really critical. Do you pout? Do you feel sorry for yourself? Do you not get up off the mat, do you not fight? All those things to me are really indicative of teams where it's hard to be really successful.
"I'm hopeful this will make us better. It will harden us, it will make us mentally and physically tougher."
The suffering began in earnest during the third quarter against the Nets, but the Bulls were still first in the East at the start of Saturday's action.
There's still a long way to go and outside of Patrick Williams, all of the injured Bulls should return relatively soon. How much they want to suffer is up to them.
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