Derrick Rose tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and he is out for the remainder of the season, the Chicago Bulls announced on Saturday evening.

Without knowing the other had said it, both Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver called Chicago’s Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers “the saddest win ever.”

Rose, who injured his left knee with about 80 seconds left in the game, wasn’t able to speak postgame despite a near triple-double because he was on his way to the hospital to get an MRI that confirmed a torn ACL.

It was another in a string of seemingly never-ending ailments for last season’s MVP, and the team’s head coach Tom Thibodeau was understandably defensive when asked why his star player was still in the game despite the fact that the team all but had the victory sealed up.

“I don’t work backwards like you guys,” Thibodeau said after the game, clearly uninterested in fielding questions about his decision to leave the star in so late in the game.

“He’s got to play,” Thibodeau continued. “He’s got to work on closing. He’s got to work on finishing. Our team, we didn’t handle that part great, and that’s what I was thinking.”

The Bulls had seen a 20-point lead with about four minutes left in the game dwindle to a 12-point lead, and in a playoff game he didn’t want to take the risk of blowing the win.

“I don’t know why you would question that,” Bulls forward Luol Deng said in defense of his coach. “It’s a playoff game. You’re trying to play. You’re trying to finish the game even though you’re up. You’re going to see them three more times. He’s playing well, and we wanted him to get his rhythm.”

Richard Hamilton, who played well with Rose, particularly in the first half, echoed that sentiment.

“When you have a team down, you have to try to keep them down,” Hamilton said. “Philly was making a run. This is playoff basketball. You can’t let a team get any confidence. You have to hit your shots and take them out of the game.”

Whatever the motivations, Rose was in the game, and he did hurt his left knee badly enough to have the Chicago locker room looking more like a morgue than a winner’s clubhouse.

“I know how bad he wants to be out there,” Joakim Noah said. “He’s more than just a basketball player to me. I consider Derrick to be a little brother, and to see him hurt is never good. But I know he’s a warrior, and he’s going to get back as soon as he can.”

This serious injury to Rose is devastating to the Chicago Bulls, but they’ve played pretty well without him most of the year. Now, they’ll have to play without him a little bit longer.