Top 10: Worst Moments of the Chicago Bulls 2012 Season
By Josh Hill
Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
1. Derrick Rose Tears his ACL
What else could be the worst moment of the Bulls 2012 season? Even Michael Jordan retiring, which was the saddest moment in the history of the franchise up to this point, wasn’t as bad as what happened in Game 1 of the Bulls playoff series against the Sixers.
With just over a minute left to go, Derrick Rose went up for one of his trademark layups, but when he came down, the city of Chicago came crashing with him.
One second. A single moment.
That’s all it took to destroy and entire season and set a franchise back at least half of the next year at best. We’d seen Rose go down before, it had been a theme all year long. But when he didn’t get back up, and when he slapped the hardwood, we knew this was the new rock bottom for the Bulls.
Michael Jordan retired twice, Jay Williams ruined his career in one night and the Bulls drafted Marcus Fizer. All of the moments combined weren’t as awful and devastating to a fan base then when Derrick Rose tore his ACL to shreds in a game that was well out of reach for the Sixers.
Everything about it stung. Fans wanted to blame Thibodeau for having Rose in the game, they blamed David Stern for the short season, they blamed the Bulls training and medical staff for not being able to fix Rose or for letting him play in a vulnerable state. IT was just a orgy of chaos and depression hitting a city in unison.
I walked around Chicago that day and it felt like Rose had died rather than just tore his ACL. People were actually crying because of this — it was that devastating. People around the NBA had condolences for Bulls fans, but no one outside of Chicago truly grasped the gravity of what had happened. Rose wasn’t just the Bulls franchise player, he was the pulse of a city.
And that pulse was down for the count. We thought losing Rose during the season was bad, but nothing could prepare us for the utter devastation of seeing Chicago’s Golden Child go down in such a bone chilling fashion.
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