Bulls rule Alex Caruso out vs. Bucks for injury management
Bulls rule Caruso out vs. Bucks for injury management originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan has said multiple times that Alex Caruso's left midfoot soreness isn't going anyway and will be a season-long issue.
Wednesday offered the latest painful example.
The Bulls ruled their ace defensive guard out of Wednesday night's matchup in Milwaukee against the Bucks, the second game of the last set of back-to-back contests this season. Caruso played 19 minutes in the Bulls' home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.
"He came out of the Memphis game feeling really, really good," Donovan said Wednesday night. "He came out of (Tuesday's) game not feeling great. Generally, in a day or two, it subsides. He feels better (Wednesday) than he did (Tuesday). But what ends up happening is when you keep pushing it with him, he gets to a place where it takes longer for him to recover and get back to playing."
Donovan said Caruso and the medical staff have consistent conversations about his situation.
"Besides the pain threshold for him---and he has a high pain threshold---that's not the issue. I'm sure it hurts him, so I don't want to diminish any pain he's in. But it's how well he can move and plant and cut with the pain," Donovan said. "When he can't do the things that he's typically been able to do for us at the level he does it, he knows he can't be as productive. And he doesn't want to be a liability."
Donovan said he noticed that Caruso didn't move as well in the second half of Tuesday's game.
Caruso has played 65 games overall this season for the Bulls, who made clear that keeping him healthy would be a season-long priority this season. But Caruso, whose go-for-broke defensive style leads to multiple aches and pains over the course of a season, has been battling left midfoot soreness for weeks. Donovan has said Caruso essentially is only playing in games now and not participating in contact portions of practice on the Bulls' off days.
For the Bucks, Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton are both out, while Giannis Antetokounmpo was listed as probable but also won't play. The Bucks can clinch the Eastern Conference's top seed with a victory. The Bulls are in 10th place and have clinched a play-in berth but are trying to make up a two-game deficit to the Hawks and Toronto Raptors with three games to play.
