Tom Thibodeau and Luol Deng put their weight behind struggling
Carlos Boozer
Carlos Boozer, the Chicago Bulls power forward is going through a rough patch these days. Boozer, who had an outstanding regular-season, is struggling big time to find his rhythm in the playoffs.
Boozer endured a turf toe injury during the game-6 of the first round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers. Boozer suffered the injury in the second quarter of the series clinching game. Later he told the media, that he had heard a little crack in his
right foot, which forced him to sit out for the last 18 minutes of the game.
Because of the injury Boozer also skipped two days training session before the game. However, he took part in the game-1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals series against the Atlanta Hawks, which Chicago lost 103-95.
Although the Bulls bounced back in the best of the seven game series by defeating the Hawks 86-73 in game-2, but Boozer continued to struggle on the field. As a result, the first year Bull was booed by the fans during various stages of game-2.
Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau however backed his player and was confident that Boozer is tough enough to handle the pressure. Thibodeau said, "Look, Carlos has been in the league for a long time. He's been through every situation you could possibly
be through. He'll handle it fine. He's been a big-time player in this league for a long time, so he knows what he has to do."
Tom, who is regarded as one of the most innovative coached in the league at present, went on to emphasize on Boozer’s importance in Chicago’s post-season campaign. "We need him out there. His rebounding is critical for us, post presence, people collapse
on him, so it opens up a lot of things for everybody. So he's got to just keep doing what he's doing. Each day he'll get better and better."
During the regular-season, Boozer scored with an average of 17.5 points and clutched an average of 9.6 rebounds in 59 games. Although he has improved on his rebounding average (10.0) in the playoffs, Boozer is averaging only 10.3 points in each game with
a meagre shooting percentage of 38.2 from the field.
Against the Hawks, he is shooting 6-of-14 and six of his shots have been blocked so far. Still Boozer's team-mates believe that he has the guts to emerge out of the dry stretch. Bulls forward Luol Deng came out in support of Boozer and said that it’s just
a matter of time before Boozer will gain his form, which has been affected by the nagging injury.
Deng also said that even with his injure toe, Boozer has given them a lot of support on the court and that is way too tough for any injured player. He also urged support for his fellow forward during the bad patch.
Tags: