Derrick Rose Returns In Bulls Loss To Orlando Magic

The Chicago Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic last night 105-103. But the big news is the return of superstar Derrick Rose, who has missed the past 20 games after undergoing right knee surgery. To put that in perspective he has not played a game since February 23.

Chicago was 10-10 in his absence and are currently fighting for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. And in his return, there was some obvious rust, even Derrick admitted that much. “I felt all right,” Rose said. “I think it was about right. It’ll get better the more I play, but I’m getting better every week. It’ll take some time, but I’ll get there.”

He went three for nine from the field and scored nine points in 19 minutes. And there were moments where he looked like the old Rose: particularly, the time where he drove down the lane, passed three defenders, to make a tough layup. Bulls fans just have to hope that he and Joakim Noah remain healthy — Noah has not been healthy throughout the entire season with his PPG (7.4), RPG (9.7) and even APG (4.7) down from last year.

At the same time, both Jimmy Butler and Paul Gasol have been playing phenomenally, with the former garnering career numbers in PPG (20.1) and APG (3.3). But even when these two put up the big numbers, the team has been awfully streaky. For instance, Butler had 19 points last night but was negative eleven in the plus/minus differential.

Still, the Bulls have the opportunity to go deep into the playoffs; they just need to get back to December ball. They have spurts of genius quieted by injuries and mediocrity.