Bulls play it safe by sitting Rose once again
To no one's surprise, Derrick Rose skipped Saturday's game against Boston to rest his sprained ankles.
Rose missed two games with the injury, which occurred on Oct. 31 against Cleveland. He played against Milwaukee on Wednesday, then missed the next two contests.
"He's not ready to go yet," coach Tom Thibodeau said before the game. "We'll see where he is tomorrow, go from there. I feel good about the other guys. Everyone has to step up. Aaron (Brooks) and Kirk (Hinrich) are doing a good job filling in."
Hinrich can't seem to hide from the starting lineup. He's started six of seven game this season - four for Rose and two for Jimmy Butler. Brooks scored a team-high 26 points against Boston.
There doesn't seem to be any cause for concern. Sprained ankles can sometimes take a couple weeks to heal and the Bulls have every reason to be cautious with Rose, who is coming back from two knee surgeries.
"Just let him go through his process," Thibodeau said. "The rest of the guys have got to lock in and get ready for the games. As I said, the one thing about when somebody's out, it gives an opportunity for others to step up and show that they can get it done. I like the way our team is playing."
The Bulls host Detroit on Monday, then get a couple days off before traveling to Toronto on Thursday.
Bulls highly offensive:
The Bulls scored at least 100 points in five of their first seven games. That hasn't happened since the 72-win campaign of 1995-96.
Heading into Saturday's action, the Bulls were averaging 104.8 points per game - sixth best in the league - a big jump from last year's 93.7.
"We're scoring in a lot of different ways," Joakim Noah said after Friday's 118-115 win in Philadelphia, according to espn.com. "We were just talking about that with Taj (Gibson). I remember when the score was like, 81-76, just (hoping) to get a basket (in past seasons). We've just got to keep building, keep getting better. We feel like we can still get better, too."
Dunleavy finds range:
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Mike Dunleavy's teams are 22-2 in games where he scored at least 27 points. His 27-point outing in Philadelphia on Friday was the highest regular-season output of his Bulls career. He did score 35 in the playoffs against Washington last season.
Bull horns:
Former Bull Brian Scalabrine was back at the United Center as part of the Celtics broadcast team. … Rajon Rondo (left hand injury) did not play for Boston. … Before Saturday, the Bulls had won eight of the last nine against the Celtics at the UC.