Following a fruitful night for second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls in a big win over the Brooklyn Nets on the road at the Barclays Center on Dec. 4, bad news came about. The Bulls saw the newly signed point guard Alex Caruso come up with a hamstring injury in the Bulls’ close win over the Nets on Dec. 4.
Caruso only played in roughly eight minutes off the bench for Donovan and the Bulls before having to exit that game against the Nets due to this hamstring injury. This injury for Caruso is reportedly (per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on Twitter on Dec. 5) a strained right hamstring. It’s unknown how long he will be out for, or even if he’s guaranteed to be out against the Nets.
Caruso is reportedly listed as “doubtful” for the Bulls ahead of an important cross-conference meeting at home at the United Center with the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 6. This will be the second of two meetings with the Nuggets on the season so far. The Bulls took down a Nikola Jokic-less Nuggets team on the road last month in one of the more resilient wins on the season.
Chicago Bulls reportedly could be missing Alex Caruso against the Nuggets
Bulls list Alex Caruso doubtful vs. Nuggets with his strained right hamstring.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 5, 2021
It looks like the Bulls are going to have to come up with yet another resilient victory over the Nuggets as these two teams face off in Chicago early this week. Potentially missing Caruso could be a big blow to the bench for Donovan against a Western Conference postseason contender in the Nuggets.
The Bulls are also set to miss point guard Coby White and shooting guard/forward Javonte Green against the Nuggets, who are both out due to the league’s health and safety protocol.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets will have the reigning NBA MVP and superstar big man Jokic ready to go in the second of two regular season meetings with the Bulls this week. Although, the Nuggets are still missing key players such as standout forward Michael Porter Jr., guard Jamal Murray, and big man Bol Bol.
The last time that Caruso was out for the Bulls came in an embarrassing 32-point loss at the hand of the division foe Indiana Pacers on the road back on Nov. 22. Yet, Caruso was really impressive for the Bulls in his five games leading into the meeting with the Nets.
He registered at least three steals in three of those five games in between the meetings with the Pacers and Nets. And he registered double-digit scoring performances off the bench also in three of those five games.
Caruso is one of the best players coming off the bench for Donovan and the Bulls so far this season. It will be interesting to see if Donovan and his staff elects to keep Caruso out against the Nuggets at home on Dec. 6, in a game that has a tip-off time set for 7 p.m. CT.