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Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng injured his left shoulder during the third quarter of Friday's 110-106 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Aggrey Sam of CSN Chicago reported.
About midway through the quarter, Deng had the ball stolen by Knicks guard Jason Kidd and immediately grabbed his left shoulder. Deng tried to stretch out his arm during a timeout, but he remained on the bench as team trainers worked on his shoulder.
Deng returned a few minutes later in the third quarter and ended up leading the Bulls to victory with 29 points and 13 rebounds, both season highs. After the game, Deng said his shoulder felt sore and that his arm went "numb" when Kidd stripped the ball:
"We're going to check again tomorrow, but I don't know exactly what it is. It's something with a ligament there. I don't know if it's a sprain. It's almost like a pulled muscle. I don't really know. I've never had anything like this. We'll see how it feels tomorrow morning and then we'll go from there."
Bull coach Tom Thibodeau said he though Deng was "fine" and believed that Kidd should have been called for a foul on the play.
Deng is averaging 18.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 41 minutes per game this season for the Bulls, all better than his career averages.