Sure, the off-week leading into the first round playoff series helped, and the spacing between Games 1 and 2 was a temporary life preserver, but the Bulls guard admitted on Friday that there’s still mornings he wakes up and the left knee is swollen.
That was his reality back in December when the knee first started getting ornery, and that’s his reality now.
“The extra rest definitely does help because you’re not going into back-to-backs, practice is more walk-throughs and mental days, so that helps with treatment,’’ LaVine said. “But there’s some days it’s swollen and it’s gonna be swollen.