PHOENIX — Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose missed Wednesday night’s103-97 win over the Phoenix Suns with a sprained left ankle.
“[We] got back to the hotel, did some tests, did some balance work,” coach Fred Hoiberg said prior to the game. “[The ankle’s] really sore still. So we decided at that time we’d rule him out for tonight, then we’ll take a look at him again [Thursday]. It’s still day-to-day. I would doubt he’d do a lot [Thursday] at practice. But hopefully we can get him moving, get him cutting, see if that thing feels any better.
Rose, who sprained the ankle midway through the fourth quarter of Monday’s win over the Indiana Pacers, was not able to do much at Wednesday’s shootaround and acknowledged the ankle was still “sore.”
“I’ve really got to pay attention to my body, listen to my body,” he said. “And if I can’t go, I’ll be able to tell tonight.”
Veteran Kirk Hinrich replaced Rose in the starting lineup, and had season highs of 14 points and six assists in 24 minutes.
“He does such a great job of getting us into our offense and getting our defense organized,” Hoiberg said.
The Bulls also lost point guard Aaron Brooks to injury. He left midway through the third after grabbing his left leg. He went back to the locker room immediately but returned before the quarter was over, only to leave the game again with 4:15 to play due to a hamstring injury.
“It’s pretty bad,” Brooks said. “Nothing I’ve ever been through before. I didn’t feel a tear or pop. Wake up and see how it feels.”
Rose was hopeful he would be able to play during the Bulls’ three-game West Coast swing, but Hoiberg was noncommittal about a specific timeline. The Bulls play at Golden State on Friday and at Portland on Tuesday.
“It’s just a regular ankle sprain,” Rose said. “Haven’t sprained my ankle in a long time. It was kind of a weird feeling at first, getting an injury like this again.”
Despite the latest setback, Hoiberg seems pleased by what he has seen from Rose recently. Rose was in the midst of one of his better games of the season Monday, scoring 23 points and dishing out six assists in the win over the Pacers.
“He’s getting there,” Hoiberg said. “He’s getting that rhythm. He’s got 10 games under his belt now, plus about a quarter of a preseason game. You can tell he’s getting in really good shape. I don’t think this is going to be something that holds him out a long time. It seems to be something where he’ll be day-to-day. Hopefully after the game tonight we’ll re-evaluate it [Thursday] and see if he can go at Golden State. If not, we’ll have three days to get him some work and get back. But I’ve been really pleased with Derrick the way he’s gone out and approached things, the amount of work he’s put in. It was great to see him have the type of game he did the other night.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
