{"id":73890,"date":"2024-04-18T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T15:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73890"},"modified":"2024-04-18T16:41:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:41:21","slug":"bulls-alex-caruso-suffers-significant-injury-ahead-play-in-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/18\/bulls-alex-caruso-suffers-significant-injury-ahead-play-in-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Bulls Player Suffers \u2018Significant\u2019 Injury Ahead of Play-In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bulls guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carusal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Caruso<\/a> is feared to have suffered a \u201csignificant left ankle sprain\u201d during Wednesday\u2019s win over the Atlanta Hawks, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso has a \u201csignificant\u201d left ankle sprain and his availability vs. Miami on Friday with the 8th-seed on the line is in doubt, source tells ESPN. Andre Drummond stepped on foot vs. Hawks in Play-In victory tonight. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Lo8RMz5Kbh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Lo8RMz5Kbh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1780817690489426349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Caruso suffered the injury early in the third quarter after a midcourt collision with 279-pound teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/drumman01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andre Drummond<\/a>. Drummond, running full speed in an attempt to stop a Hawks fastbreak, inadvertently bowled Caruso over. As Caruso stayed down, he grimaced in pain, holding his left ankle.<\/p>\n<p>Bulls staffers looked on in disbelief.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Alex Caruso suffered an apparent injury after this collision with Andre Drummond.<\/p>\n<p>He has yet to return to the game. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5Uc4c0WiKk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5Uc4c0WiKk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN (@espn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1780787504024633676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Caruso didn\u2019t return to the court after the 9:43 mark, with the recently signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Javonte Green<\/a> stepping in for him. He finished the contest with six points, two assists, and one steal in 17 minutes. Perhaps the best evidence of Caruso\u2019s impact is that All-Star guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> had five turnovers in the first half. In the second half, Young only had one.<\/p>\n<p>A dogged backcourt defender with great length at 6-foot-5, his absence is untimely.<\/p>\n<p>The Bulls have to win their upcoming Play-In game against the Miami Heat in order to reach the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The Heat won\u2019t be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/18\/heat-jimmy-butler-suffers-knee-injury-ahead-must-win-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">at full strength<\/a> either, missing starters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roziete01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terry Rozier<\/a>. Nonetheless, Miami wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/herroty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Herro<\/a> is still a dangerous scorer, averaging 20.8 points per game this season.<\/p>\n<h3>Replacing Alex Caruso<\/h3>\n<p>If Caruso can\u2019t go, the Bulls can rely on Green and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dosunay01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> defensively. Athletic and sturdily built, they can help slow Herro and others down at the point-of-attack. Furthermore, both wings have shown that they can knock down outside jumpers at a consistent rate. This season, Green is shooting 37.0 percent from 3. Dosunmu is shooting 40.3 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, Dosunmu has made massive strides as a facilitator this season. Averaging 5.2 assists per game after the All-Star Break, he has the best chance of replicating Caruso\u2019s impact. To that point, though Caruso largely plays off-ball, he\u2019s still averaging 3.5 assists per game. On a team with as many offensive weapons as the Bulls, their playmaking will go a long way towards them maximizing their offensive potential.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a> can <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/08\/bulls-demar-derozan-hardest-person-guard-dwyane-points\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">consistently create for himself<\/a>, performances such as the one that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> had against the Hawks aren\u2019t to be relied upon. Going 15-21 from the field, White scored a game-high 42 points on a heavy diet of isolation plays.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">PSA: COBY WHITE SHOULD BE MIP.<\/p>\n<p>42 pts | 15-21 FG | 9 reb | 6 ast | 2 stl <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DKEfKgSmqj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/DKEfKgSmqj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chicagobulls\/status\/1780814184923418991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This season, only 5.4 percent of White\u2019s field goal attempts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/isolation?dir=D&amp;sort=POSS_PCT\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">came from isos<\/a>. White scored 0.82 points per possession on these attempts, shooting 37.7 percent from the field.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, 14.8 percent of the passes White received last season came from Caruso. However, with Dosunmu delivering the ball, White may have a better chance of scoring. White made just 31.9 percent of his 3s when his mentor passed him the ball but 41.3 percent of his 3s when Dosunmu dished out a pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso is feared to have suffered a \u201csignificant left ankle sprain\u201d during Wednesday\u2019s win over the Atlanta Hawks, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski. Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso has a \u201csignificant\u201d left ankle sprain and his availability vs. Miami on Friday with the 8th-seed on the line is in doubt, source tells [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":73891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4,1608,62,3],"tags":[2037,3967,1782,4745,596,832],"class_list":["post-73890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-alex-caruso","tag-ayo-dosunmu","tag-coby-white","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-ncaa-tournament"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}