NBA Playoffs: Bulls’ Derrick Rose Will Not Return Against Miami Heat

The second round of the NBA playoffs is officially upon us with every team left in the postseason gearing up for taking another step toward the NBA Finals. One team that was able to pull off the upset in the first round of the postseason in order to stay alive in an underdog capacity is the Chicago Bulls.

Coming into the 2013 NBA playoffs, the Bulls were thought to be a team with little chance of advancing without Derrick Rose in the lineup. As if Rose’s absence wasn’t enough to erase the optimism for this team in the postseason, Chicago also suffered injuries to Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng during the first round against the Brooklyn Nets.

Hinrich missed the last two games of the series with a bruised calf injury while Deng was unable to go with an illness. These two injuries along with Rose out for the first round was thought to be the difference maker and ultimately swung the Las Vegas odds in the favor of the Nets, but it didn’t matter with Joakim Noah stepping up in Game 7 to seal the deal and advance to the second round.

With the Bulls punching their ticket to the second round of the postseason, the question began to circulate about the return of Rose. The consensus was that Rose would be needed in order for the Bulls to get passed the defending NBA champion Miami Heat in the second round, but it appears that the one-time NBA MVP had no intention of returning this season regardless of how far the team gets in the postseason.

Obviously, Rose staying on the bench in street will likely keep the Heat heavily favored in Las Vegas odds to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals to face either the New York Knicks or Indiana Pacers.