Point guard complains of soreness in his knee.
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was rested for the pre-season game against the Washington Wizards on Saturday as a precaution after complaining of soreness in his knee.
Kirk Hinrich started in his place and finished with eight points and three assists as the Bulls sealed an 83-81 win in the first NBA game hosted by Brazil.
However, the headlines were dominated by Rose’s absence, although coach Tom Thibodeau and his team-mates were keen to stress the fact that it was more of a precautionary move as opposed to anything more serious.
“We wanted to see where he was today, but he wasn’t as well as we would have liked,” Thibodeau said as reported by ESPN.
“He still had the soreness. So we anticipated giving him time off. We view our training camp as the entire month. So if he needs a day, or a couple of days, we’ll do that.”
Rose missed all of last season with a torn ACL, but has impressed in his comeback so far this pre-season, scoring 13 points while playing at least 20 minutes in each of his two appearances.
A sell-out crowd in Rio de Janeiro chanted his name in the closing stages of the encounter in the hope of seeing him in action, but the Bulls erred on the side of caution and decided to sit him.
Thibodeau was unsure about whether or not Rose would play in the next game against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, while Joakim Noah also missed the Wizards game with a groin injury.
Nevertheless, the Bulls coach insisted that he wants to see a continuation of the mentality they adopted last season where they used their entire roster to deal with injuries.
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