CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose had surgery Saturday on a torn knee ligament, and the Chicago Bulls said they will give an update early next week on the recovery of their star point guard.
The team said in a statement the operation was "successful" but gave no timetable for his return.
Rose tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee late during a playoff-opening win over Philadelphia on April 28. He came to a jump stop in the lane and his leg bucked, with the 76ers' Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen rotating toward him. He still went up again and passed to Carlos Boozer in midair before crashing to the court, sending a chill through the arena.
Without its leading scorer, Chicago lost the series in six games.
That certainly wasn't what the Bulls envisioned after capturing home-court advantage throughout the playoffs for the second straight season despite a long list of injuries. They were eyeing another big run after losing to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals last season but bowed out early, becoming the second No. 1 seed in as many years to fall in the first round.
Rose averaged 21.8 points and 7.9 assists, but it was a difficult season. The MVP a year ago, he missed 27 games because of groin, back, toe, foot and ankle problems that general manager Gar Forman has said did not lead to the ACL tear. Although the Bulls went 18-9 without him during the regular season, they weren't the same once he went down in the playoffs.
As if Rose's injury wasn't bad enough, the Bulls lost centre Joakim Noah to a sprained left ankle in Game 3 and fell into a 3-1 hole before injecting some drama back into the series. They looked as if they were about to force a seventh game with a one-point lead in the closing seconds Thursday, but that changed when C.J. Watson passed to Omer Asik on a break rather than keep the ball.
Asik missed two foul shots before Andre Iguodala drove the length of the court as the defence parted and made both free throws after getting fouled by Asik to give Philadelphia a 79-78 victory.
