When Derrick Rose went down clutching his left knee with just over a minute left in Game 1 Saturday, a silence fell over the United Center.
The injury looked ugly and early reports indicated Rose may be forced to miss some time.
That would be a huge impact on the remainder of this series, and it's not something Doug Collins or his team wanted to see.
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"I'm sure right now, there's a lot of concern over Derrick Rose," the 76ers head coach said. "I sure hope he's not seriously hurt.
"I admire him so much. I think he's one of the young, bright lights in this NBA. I hope he's going to be back and I hope he's going to be able to play. I admire his greatness."
If Rose's injury keeps him out for a significant period of time, that would affect the entire landscape of the Eastern Conference playoffs, starting with this first series with the 76ers.
"It definitely changes things a lot," Philadelphia forward Thaddeus Young said. "Derrick Rose is one of their key guys. He's the guy who initiates everything, the one that gets them going.
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"It's an unfortunate situation. You definitely don't want to see him go down like that in the first game in the first round of the playoffs. At the end of the game, I think he should have been out at that time, but you just hope for the best and hope that he's OK."
Many are thinking along the same lines as Young, second-guessing why Rose was in the game when the Bulls had a double-digit lead.
Sixers power forward Elton Brand won't play Monday Morning quarterback, however.
"I wasn't surprised Rose was in there," said Brand, who started his NBA career with the Bulls and said he still follows the team. "They wanted to secure this win. He has also been out for a while this season due to injury and needs to play in the games.
"Hopefully, he will be OK with a couple days' rest. It was good to see him walk off on his own."
Collins was quick to defend his fellow coach to the media after the game.
"Tom Thibodeau is Coach of the Year. He was last year and he is this year. He knows what he's doing coaching his team. Thibs is my buddy. I have the ultimate respect for him. From his standpoint, he wanted to finish that game the way he did," said Collins, who caught Thibodeau in the hallway after the game and talked quietly with the Bulls coach for a minute or so.
"It's awful that Derrick got hurt. I was a player that got injured. I don't ever want to see that. When we play teams, I want to have to beat them when they're at their best. I hope the kid bounces back."