END OF THE ROSE?
Rose season ends with torn meniscus, leaving future with team in question
As recently as Wednesday, Knicks point guard Derrick Rose proclaimed pride in his durability this season. Health, an issue stretching back to his catastrophic knee injury in the 2012 playoffs, was not a major problem this time as Rose played in 64 of 77 games.
But that was all the way back on Wednesday.
On Sunday, early in their 110-94 loss to Boston at the Garden, the K nicks announced an MRI exam on Rose’ sailing left knee revealed a torn meniscus, and the 28-year-old guard would undergo arthroscopic surgery and miss the remainder of the season.
Rose sat a third straight game Sunday, will miss the final five games and may have played his last game as a Knick. He will be a free agent this summer.
“I feel bad for him,” teammate Kristaps Porzingis said. “I know how hard he worked throughout t he season to maintain the shape that he has and make sure he avoids all those injuries as much as he can. To see that happen to him right now at the end of the season, it’s tough. I’m sure he will come back stronger.”
The announcement came shortly after coach Jeff Hornacek noted Rose would sit Sunday but speculated he might play Tuesday against Chicago. That changed with news Rose faces his fourth knee surgery, second on the left knee. Rose was not available Sunday.
“It’ s tough for Der rick. He’s played hard all year,” Hornacek said afterward. “I didn’t hear the real report [before]. He’ll get that taken care of and probably get back. He’s worked hard last summer with yoga … to get his body in great shape. I feel bad for him.
“I thought he’s played well. The explosiveness you saw from years ago, you saw that quite a bit this year. Again, the way the season has gone, to have something like that right towards the end, that’s a bad break,” Hornacek said.
On Wednesday, before the Knicks officially were eliminated, Rose claimed he felt he had proven his health to potential free-agent suitors. He claimed he had experienced knee discomfort before Monday’s game but still was able to play — and score 27 points. Rose believed it was not serious.
“Playoff game, probably give it a go, but I’m being cautious with it,” Rose said Wednesday .“You would know if something serious was going on. I would know after having three knee injuries. I don’t think it’s nothing too serious.”
While a meniscus injury is not normally devastating, Rose’s injury is to the same knee that suffered the torn ACL in 2012. In five seasons before this, Rose missed 228 of 394 regular-season games.
Before Sunday, Rose had missed 12 games, including his January AWOL vanishing act. But Rose only sat two games with knee pain.
“I feel for him a lot in just knowing the situation,” said backcourt mate Courtney Lee. “[A meniscus], that’s a quick-healing injury. What is it, six, seven weeks? It could have been worse, you can look at it that way. But I feel for him and going to shoot out a lot of prayers for him for a speedy recovery.”
With Rosed own, Ron Baker figures to continue starting.
“It’s tough for everybody. We’re a pretty close group. Derrick is obviously a great player, a great friend,” Baker said. “Now that we’re out of the playoffs, it’s tough to see a guy that’s worked so hard all year like him hit by injury.
“I know he’s low in spirit, but we’ll support him the best we can as teammates and hopefully he can get back to 100 percent during this offseason.”