Well, so much for getting out there and playing.
Derrick Rose and head coach Tom Thibodeau decided to shut down the superstar Bulls point guard in the second half of Chicago’s 114-109 loss Tuesday night in Denver.
Rose says his nagging left hamstring injury left him feeling ineffective against the Nuggets; he finished with twopoints and three assists in less than 10 minutes of action.
Per CSN Chicago:
At halftime, head coach Tom Thibodeau talked to Rose and decided to shut him down and not risk further injury. […] “It’s nothing like I pulled it again or anything like that,” Rose said. “It was just that I wasn’t able to affect the game the way I wanted to. Came in (to the locker room), talked to Thibs and we agreed on it.”
Thibodeau felt Rose was playing tentatively. Considering Denver is a team that likes to run, he decided it was best to not use his star in the second half. […] “It was really nothing that happened other than I didn’t want to take any chances,” Thibodeau said. “The way the game was going, the way we were going, I just wanted to go a different way. He didn’t re-injure it. I just didn’t want to take a chance.”
“Offensively, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t get where I wanted to go and defensively just the speed of the game, just wasn’t ready for it,” Rose said. “It’s frustrating but I can’t let it get me down. It’s a long season and just got to keep going. The team is not worried about me.”