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Bulls' Rose bothered by turf toe

Derrick Rose didn't look like his usual self while hitting 3 of 16 shots in the first three quarters of Monday's 94-92 victory over Denver.

Before anyone had a chance to ask how he was feeling, Rose casually revealed that he's suffering from turf toe on his left foot.

“It's been hurting ever since like last season in the playoffs, but I didn't know what was wrong,” Rose said Tuesday at the Berto Center. “I thought it was jammed. But talking to the trainers, (it's) turf toe.”

Rose insisted he plans to keep playing, but this condition has knocked dozens of pro athletes out of action for weeks at a time, so it has to concern the Bulls.

After the slow start against the Nuggets, Rose hit 4 of 5 shots in the fourth quarter and rallied the Bulls to a 94-92 victory.

“It's there forever now,” Rose said. “That's going to be an injury I'm going to have for a long time. It's something I can definitely block out. But tough games, I've got to ice it and get stem on it.”

Baby steps for Boozer:

The weekly Carlos Boozer injury update wasn't very enlightening.

“His conditioning has really picked up,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He's going through some dummy offense. He does closeouts. Each day he does a little bit more.”

Boozer was looking forward to getting the stitches removed from his right hand this week, but it's not clear which day that will happen. Those incisions are from the pins used to secure the break.

“The next phase will actually be the noncontact part of practice, where you're just going through your schemes and you're going through your plays and shooting,” Thibodeau added.

“Once he gets through that, then it will be a normal practice. When he gets through that, then he'll be cleared to play.”

Grad-school defense:

Bulls guard Keith Bogans credited his coach at Kentucky, Tubby Smith, for encouraging him to make defense his specialty in the NBA.

“One of my first jobs was to make Orlando's team and have to guard (Tracy) McGrady every day in practice,” Bogans said. “I just took pride in playing defense. I think over the years I've got a little smarter and learned how to shortcut a little bit and help my teammates.”