Rose: Finding out ACL torn was like death

"I remember everything," Rose said. "I remember jumping in the air and coming back down, and just that popping sound. I felt it actually tear when I laid all the way out and it just let go."

When team physician Dr. Brian Cole confirmed the tear, Rose said, "I couldn't believe it. That's the closest thing to death, the closest to death I've got to right there, where it just seemed like the wind and everything was taken out (of me)."

Other than a brief YouTube video last month, he had said little publicly since the injury. The interview with CSNChicago.com was conducted last month in Los Angeles, where he was working out at the time, and posted Wednesday.

Chicago was wrapping up a 103-91 victory when Rose's left leg buckled as he came to a jump start in the lane. He still went up again and passed to Carlos Boozer before crashing to the court, sending a chill through the arena.

Rose's injury dashed the Bulls' championship hopes after they captured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, and with Joakim Noah spraining his left ankle later in the series, Chicago bowed out in the first round.