Derrick Rose plays just 10 minutes, Bulls lose
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau seemed to express frustration about the Bulls' string of injuries and inconsistent lineups.
He talked about Derrick Rose going in and out of the lineup following Monday's narrow win at Utah.
“You've got to get out there and play,” Thibodeau said. “When Derrick strings some games together, he's going to take off. So he's got to go. That's the bottom line. He's got to go.”
Well, the injury situation didn't get any better Tuesday night at Denver. Joakim Noah sat out because of a sore knee and an eye injury suffered against the Jazz.
Then Rose started the game but lasted just 10 minutes and didn't play in the second half because of soreness in his left hamstring.
Kirk Hinrich returned from two games off with a chest contusion, but the Bulls had too many missing pieces to keep up on the second leg of back-to-back games. The Bulls (9-6) stayed within striking distance but trailed all night and lost to the Nuggets 114-109 at the Pepsi Center.
The Bulls are 1-14 at Denver since the championship era ended. They are 2-3 on the circus road trip, which now shifts East for games in Boston and Brooklyn this weekend.
Rose finished with 2 points and 3 assists. He shot the ball well against Utah but couldn't match that success 24 hours later.
“It was really nothing that happened other than I didn't want to take any chances with him,” Thibodeau said of Rose's second-half absence. “The way the game was going, the way we were going, I just felt at that point I wanted to go a different way.
“He didn't reinjure himself or anything like that. I just didn't want to take a chance.”
The usual suspects stood out for the Bulls. Jimmy Butler scored 32 points, going an incredible 18-for-20 at the foul line. Gasol produced 22 points and 11 rebounds.
With both Noah and Taj Gibson (sprained left ankle) sidelined, Thibodeau started rookie second-round draft pick Cameron Bairstow at power forward.
The game seemed out of reach late in the fourth quarter, but the Bulls caught a break when officials wiped out a desperation 3-pointer by Danilo Gallinari, who had stepped out of bounds before releasing the shot.
The Bulls closed within 107-101 with 1:21 left when Aaron Brooks bounced in a 3-pointer. Then a fastbreak layup by Butler brought the Bulls within 4 points with still more than a minute left.
Denver guard Aaron Afflalo knocked down a 22-foot jumper to make it 109-103. Butler scored off an offensive rebound, was fouled and finished the 3-point play to pull the Bulls within 3 with 31.4 seconds remaining.
Needing a defensive stop, the Bulls couldn't get it. The Nuggets isolated point guard Ty Lawson against Hinrich and he nailed a step-back jumper with 8.3 seconds left to essentially seal the outcome. Lawson led Denver with 20 points and 12 assists, while Afflalo had 19 points.