Derrick Rose: Hammy injury 'minor'
— -- TORONTO -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose will be re-evaluated Friday after he injured his left hamstring late in Thursday night's 100-93 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Rose did not return to the game but did not seem too concerned about the injury.
"I guess it's cramps in my hamstrings," Rose said. "But I think it's minor, and they decided to pull me out."
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game that Rose told him he was fine and that he thought he had just tweaked the hamstring.
Thibodeau thought an MRI on the hamstring was likely for Friday, but Rose was hopeful he wouldn't have to have one. He said he would receive ice and muscle stimulation treatments, and left open the possibility he might be able to practice Friday.
"I don't think it's that serious," Rose said. "Just ice it, stim, see if I can practice [Friday] and give it a go Saturday."
The injury occurred with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Rose turned over the ball and fell to the floor before walking gingerly to the bench. He isn't quite sure how it happened.
"I don't know, man," Rose said. "Just missing two years, now you're just going to fall for no reason I guess, man. Just trying to work every day, put in consistent work every day. And don't lose any confidence with these setbacks."
Rose already has missed four games this season because of sprained ankles. In 30 minutes of action Thursday night, Rose scored 20 points, going 5 of 14 from the floor. He had four assists, three rebounds and five turnovers.
Teammate Joakim Noah delivered an impassioned defense of the point guard after the game and said he was upset with the way the media portrayed Rose's statements earlier this week when the former MVP acknowledged that he was thinking about the future as it pertained to if and when he played in certain games this season.
"We're a group that's gone through a lot," Noah said. "Just looking at [the situation] as a teammate is just frustrating because I feel like sometimes he's portrayed as something that he's not. You don't come back from the injuries that he's coming back from without an unbelievable commitment. ... Just watching the league and the power that [the media] have. Sometimes you guys can really portray somebody as something he's not, and to me that's a little disappointing just because I know how much he cares about this game.
"I see it every day. I think we're all in this together. This is not a one-man team. But at the end of the day, we need him; we need him, and I don't want to see him down. I know sometimes it's frustrating, you've got injuries, you've got tweaks. Every time something happens to him, people act like it's the end of the world, and that's f---ing so lame to me. Relax. He's coming back from two crazy surgeries, obviously we're being conservative with him, and when things aren't going right, he's got to listen to his body more than anybody. So everybody needs to chill the f--- out. I'm sorry for cursing but I'm really passionate. I don't like to see him down and he doesn't say that he's down, but I just don't like it when people portray him and judge him because it's not fair to him. It's not.
"We're going to be just fine. We're going to be just fine. We just got to take it -- everybody just needs to chill out. Chill out."
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