Midway through the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso asked coach Billy Donovan to take him out of the game.
Caruso has been nursing tightness and soreness in his back for more than a week, which he attributes to his seven-week layoff due to a fractured wrist suffered in January. He wore a heat pack on the sideline during breaks in several games last week to stave off muscle spasms.
But on Saturday, the pain elevated to a level he couldn’t play through.
“It started creeping up a little bit into my middle back and my shoulder blade,” Caruso said Monday. “I was at the point where I needed to sit down because if I got hit again, it would be pretty painful.”
Losing Caruso — even for a matter of minutes — is a major blow to the Bulls, who rely on the defensive specialist for perimeter pressure. As the team’s defense has slipped during the second half of the season, Caruso’s importance has been heightened while fellow guard Lonzo Ball remains unavailable because of a knee injury.
When Caruso plays unencumbered, his frenetic energy on defense lifts the intensity of the entire Bulls roster, leading to more steals and points off turnovers. For the past week, this energy remained the same in the opening quarter, but Caruso became visibly uncomfortable as games wore on.
Donovan said he aims to play Caruso less than 28 minutes per night, but that isn’t always possible during games such as last week’s overtime comeback against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Although Caruso downplayed the injury to media after practice Monday, Donovan expressed a higher level of concern.
“He just couldn’t go,” Donovan said after Saturday’s game. “I put him back in later, but he’s hobbled. He’s going to give it everything he has, but I’m trying to manage it. … To be quite honest, he’s just not right.”
Caruso didn’t practice Monday to allow two full days of recovery before back-to-back home games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics beginning Tuesday. Zach LaVine also sat out practice to rest his left knee, which continues to be a focal point for the Bulls medical staff.
Despite the minutes restriction, Caruso expressed confidence that he’ll be available for the final four games of the regular season.
“I think it’ll be fine,” he said. “We had two days off. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
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