Injury shuts down Bulls’ Kirk Hinrich, Nate Robinson to start
By JOE COWLEY jcowley@suntimes.com December 12, 2012 6:21PM
Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich fouls Clippers guard Chris Paul in the fourth quarter of the Chicago Bulls 94-89 loss to the L.A. Clippers Tuesday December 11, 2012 at the United Center. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times
Updated: December 12, 2012 6:33PM
PHILADELPHIA – Kirk Hinrich is running out of body parts to hurt.
An hour before the game with Philadelphia, the Bulls point guard tried to give the latest injury a go, and the decision was made to shut him down for the night, starting Nate Robinson in his place.
“Banged up his knee,’’ head coach Tom Thibodeau said of the newest ailment to hit Hinrich.
Not that Thibodeau was in the mood to give details, saying it was the left knee and it wasn’t believed to be serious.
Asked when the injury occurred against the Clippers on Tuesday night, Thibodeau responded, “At some point in the game last night.’’
Hinrich has already been sidelined with a hip injury, a thumb, a groin, a left elbow and now the left knee.
The bigger problem is it’s not like the Bulls have been feeding him heavy minutes so far this season, as he entered the game with the 76ers averaging 27.2 minutes per game.
So coming up with a plan to protect the veteran moving forward really isn’t an option.
“I mean he’s not a big minutes guy right now,’’ Thibodeau said. “That’s part of the league, you’re going to get banged up, and when one guy goes down the next guy has to step up. We’ve been in this situation before. In the Boston game [Nov. 12], Nate started, Marquis [Teague] came in and did a very good job. We have a lot of confidence in his ability.’’
As far as Rip Hamilton and his torn left plantar fascia, Thibodeau said that he was progressing, but as far as an exact timetable for the guard’s return, that was still up in the air.
“Just got to be patient,’’ Thibodeau said. “Plantar fasciitis is different with everybody. He’s doing more and more each day, still not ready, hopefully it will be soon.’’
