As Yogi Berra would say, it was like deja vu all over again watching Dwight Howard swat Derrick Rose out of the air and send him crashing to the court last night in Orlando on the TNT Game of the Night.

The previous encounter happened on Feb. 10 when Rose fell hard on his backside and suffered a bruised right hip, causing him to leave the game.

Some people questioned that play, but I thought it was a legitimate hard foul with no bad intent.

This time I'm not so sure.

Rose drove hard to the basket near the end of the first quarter and left his feet as Howard slid over and appeared to hip-check him with no attempt to swat at the ball. Rose went down hard and came up holding his left wrist.

He left the game shortly after that play and had X-rays taken. The MRI he took today revealed a sprain in the left wrist. He's out of tonight's game against Miami and is listed as day-to-day.

Howard was called for a foul, and that was it.  

The NBA rule for flagrant fouls defines them as unnecessary and/or excessive. There are two types of flagrant fouls, a flagrant one and flagrant two.

A flagrant one is when a defensive player swings and makes hard contact with an offensive player, or makes hard contact and then follows through.

A flagrant two is listed as unnecessary and excessive contact.

Both fouls carry a penalty of two free throws and the team keeping the ball. The flagrant two foul adds ejection for the player who commits the foul.

There is no question this was a flagrant foul.

You could make the argument that he should have been thrown out of the game.

If he was making no attempt to block the shot, and he was hitting a player in the air in a vulnerable position, my interpretation would be excessive and unnecessary.

I'm sure the NBA doesn't want to lose star players like Derrick Rose to injury because some macho "bad ass" thinks if you drive through his lane, he's going to put you on the hardwood.

Howard thought it was amusing. "I think if you hit something that doesn't move, you usually end up falling," he chuckled after the game.

Nicknamed "Superman" for his muscular build and his performance wearing the cape during the slam dunk contest last year, Howard must think he is immune to retaliation.

In hockey, you have your enforcers. If a player commits a cheap shot on one of the opponent's star players, you're going to be dropping your gloves, and maybe dripping some blood on the ice.

Basketball used to be that way too, when players like Maurice Lucas roamed the lane.

If he were playing with Rose, Howard might have run into his "kryptonite," because Lucas wouldn't have let him get away with that cheap shot. And if anyone saw the beating he put on Artis Gilmore in the ABA, you know what I'm talking about.

But that was the old days.

Back when Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier patrolled the backcourt for the Bulls, there used to be a no-layup rule.

In more recent times, the Detroit Pistons employed that with the "Jordan rules" when playing the Bulls.  

Nowadays it's a gentler game, and there's a reason for that. It makes no sense to take your best players out of the game because of incidents like this.

The NBA markets players. Come see LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are coming to your town. Watch the matchup on TNT tonight featuring Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls.  

It's not quite as catchy when you say tune in to watch Acie Law and the Chicago Bulls.

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Five straight Losses, make It Six.

If you thought It was over before, the latest Bulls loss courtesy of the Orlando Magic probably did nothing to sway your thinking. With Noah, Deng and now Derrick Rose going down with an Injury in the Bulls matchup with the Magic, The Bulls have now  lost three of there five starting players.

The Injury to Derrick, which happened with 55 seconds to go in the First quarter, looked eerily similar to the Injury he suffered from Dwight in the bulls first meeting, with the result being a sore hip.

In typical Derrick fashion, he drove hard to the hoop weaving in and out of traffic, challenging the 6' 11", 265 pound Howard. Howard exceeded the challenge, and this time Derricks back didn't break the fall, his wrist did.

Now things look even bleaker for the Bulls as they try to salvage what Is left of the season, with players they never thought they would rely on to do it.

In some ways, It all seems like a bad joke played on the Bulls courtesy of the basketball gods, whoever they are. You simply do not anticipate having to go with a starting five of Kirk Hinrich, Jannero Pargo, James Johnson Taj Gibson and Brad Miller to close out the season.

Most fans would look at that lineup and laugh at the thought of a playoff birth. Most skeptics and columnists would write the Bulls off immediately, which they already have begun to do.

If this is indeed a joke, its not a very good one for obvious reasons, and unfortunately, the laughter might not stop anytime soon. With Miami, Memphis, Dallas and Cleavland coming up, the Bulls will face two of the best teams in the NBA and two teams who are clicking at the right time.

For the Bulls to have any success during this stretch, the current nucleus of players on the floor will have to do just that, Click.

Not having any significant playing time together doesn't help, neither does having a coach who's confidence has been hit multiple times during the season with threats of firing and losses.

However this is where Vinny must make his money. This is where Vinny must step up and command his troops and prepare them for war, because It will certainly be a battle these next few weeks.

Where do the Bulls go from here? Perhaps now is the time to really give James Johnson extended minutes to see what he can do. Johnson showed flashes of what he's capable of in the loss to Orlando. Acie Law also is intriguing with his ability to drive and finish. Could we see more minutes going to Law down the stretch?

Next up, The Miami Heat who currently sits in eighth place and a win ahead of the Bulls.

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The 2009-10 Chicago Bulls have had so many loops in their roller-coaster season that they're beginning to look like a Persian king. Too bad their play as of late has been rather pedestrian.

After dropping five straight—four of which were at home—the Bulls traveled to Orlando for a game on Thursday night and were ran out of Amway Arena 111-82 by a Magic team that is something that Chicago strives to be: a contender.

Chicago's most recent skid has shown that this young and semi-talented is built for 2010-11. And with just six roster players set to return next season and nearly $20 million in salary cap space, why shouldn't the team be looking towards the future?

The Bulls unloaded Tyrus Thomas and John Salmons at the trade deadline in exchange for expiring contracts in an effort to bolster their chances at adding a max contract free agent. And while a new attitude, a new look, and a weak schedule sparked the team to a hot start after the All-Star festivities, the Bulls have finally cooled off while playing much better competition.

They now find themselves two games under .500 and 1.5 games out of the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They're six-game losing streak is currently the second longest streak behind Minnesota, who are losers are seven straight.

If losing wasn't bad enough for a franchise that's seen much of that same fate over the past decade, players have also been dropping at an alarming rate.

First came the news that plantar fasciitis was going to keep Joakim Noah, the team's leading rebounder (and fifth leading boarder in the league), on the shelf for at least three weeks, maybe longer.

Then there was the calf injury to second leading scorer Luol Deng on Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz. Deng was held out of Thursday's game against the Magic and there is no word on when he'll return.

Finally came the blow that could snuff out the Bulls' faint playoff hopes.  Derrick Rose, the team's leading scorer and assist man and the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, left the Thursday night's game with an apparent sprained wrist. He did not return.

The injuries and the overall lack of talent (at least compared to current playoff teams) have the Bulls primed for a spot in the draft lottery.

So should the Bulls shut down play with 18 games remaining to try and throw a few more balls into the lottery machine? Should they go ahead and sit Noah, Deng, and Rose the rest of the season to ensure their safety? Or should they continue to play hard and let a brutal late-season schedule run its course and force them completely out of the playoff scene anyways?

I think the team has to look at the unusual situation that they're in and the extraordinary upcoming offseason the NBA is set to experience and call it quits for this season.

Does this mean that they should try to blow the remainder of their games and play lackadaisically? No. But sitting guys that are incredibly valuable to righting the ship in Chicago may be wise before a real injury plagues the team's future.

Imagine one of the team's young stars (Taj Gibson, who complained of plantar fasciitis earlier in the season, comes to mind) incurring an injury that would require surgery. Imagine if that player were to miss serious offseason workouts and practices and be forced to be held back at the beginning of next season. Is there anything left to achieve this season that is worth that risk?

While a big name free agent has Bulls fans (including me) chomping at the bit, a serious injury to a young core player could set the team back from contending once again in 2010-11.

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From a distance, and even in many ways from up close, it appears that the Chicago Bulls are closing up shop for the season and starting to look at their future.

Joakim Noah has foot issues that could have him shut down for most, if not all, of the remaining regular season games.

Luol Deng is also taking some time off to rest bad knees and, now, a strained calf.

Taj Gibson , the Bulls’ surprising rookie power forward who has played well this year, is also suffering from foot issues and, despite playing through pain, could miss action moving forward.

Kirk Hinrich has dealt with sprained ankles lately, at one point rolling both ankles in the same game.

And now on March 11, superstar guard Derrick Rose took a hard hit from Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and suffered a sprained wrist.

Is there anyone left to play for Bulls’ coach Vinny Del Negro ?

The Bulls had lost five straight entering the Magic game that, with Rose leaving early, became an exhibition at the expense of the United Center fans. In their previous 11 games, the Bulls had only held an opponent under 100 points in two games; Chicago is allowing an average of 108 points per game in that stretch.

Making matters worse, despite leading the league in rebounding at 44.7 boards per night, over 57 percent of those rebounds come from Noah (11.4), Deng (7.3), and Gibson (7). If those three leave the lineup, there isn’t a person in uniform averaging more than six boards a night.

Can it get worse? The Bulls are averaging 97.4 points per game of offense. If the assumption is that Rose’s sprained wrist will cost him game time, Noah’s already out and Deng is questionable for every game, those three account for over 50 percent of the Bulls’ scoring this year.

If someone added water and a pool at the end, this slide might become fun to watch!

With the exception of Rose, it’s probably time to drop any Bulls on your roster. Brad Miller hasn’t picked up any statistical benefits from Noah’s missed time; Hakim Warrick has seen some marginal benefit but hasn’t seen enough playing time to put up bigger numbers.

Considering any player of fantasy relevance is hurting, it might be wise to look elsewhere for help at this point in the season. For some potential sleepers of value, check out our point guard , shooting guard , small forward , and power forward Power Rankings .

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