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Derrick Jones Jr. playing through pain for shorthanded Bulls

Derrick Jones Jr. playing through pain for shorthanded Bulls

Jones Jr. determined to play through pain for Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Derrick Jones Jr. was so close he could almost taste it.

A knee hyperextension suffered early in the Chicago Bulls’ Jan. 12 loss to the Brooklyn Nets had sidelined him two weeks. But a return was on the horizon — either in San Antonio in Jan. 28 or against the Trail Blazers at home on Jan. 30.

“I just felt like I should ramp up my workouts a little bit,” Jones Jr. said after Saturday’s 106-101 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I went through my workout like I normally do, and it was just like the last segment of things I was going through, the ball just hit my finger the wrong way, and it didn’t feel right.”

The eventual diagnosis was a fractured right index finger, sustained catching a pass in a routine 5-on-0 drill at the Bulls’ practice facility. Jones Jr. missed another 10 games before returning with a protective splint on the affected area on Saturday.

“It was heartbreaking,” Jones…

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