No Rose, but trip off to good start

The Bulls began the annual circus road trip without Derrick Rose.

Rose skipped Wednesday's game in Phoenix with a sprained left ankle, but the Bulls got off to a quick start and beat the Suns 103-97. Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with a season-high 32 points.

The Bulls led by 17 points midway through the second quarter. Phoenix crept back into the game and took an 88-87 lead 4:47 remaining. The Bulls answered with a 7-0 run, featuring a dunk by Pau Gasol, 3-pointer from Kirk Hinrich and driving bank by Butler.

Butler put the game away by draining a 3-pointer with 1:08 left, boosting the lead to 7 points.

Rose suffered the sprained ankle midway through the fourth quarter of Monday's win over Indiana. Hinrich made the start at point guard and scored 14 points. Aaron Brooks added 12 points off the bench, but went to the locker room in the fourth quarter with an apparent left hamstring injury.

Rose's injury is not expected to be serious, but could keep him out a few games, The second stop on the Western trip is Friday in Golden State. The Bulls then have three days off before moving on to Portland. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg had called Rose's status "extremely doubtful" at the morning shootaround.

"It's still day-to-day," Hoiberg said before the game, according to espn.com. "I would doubt he'd do a lot (Thursday) at practice. But hopefully we can get him moving, get him cutting, see if that thing feels any better."

As Rose said after Monday's game, nothing is torn or broken. Given his injury history, he wasn't going to sweat a moderate ankle issue.

"It's just a regular ankle sprain," Rose said. "Haven't sprained my ankle in a long time. It was kind of a weird feeling at first, getting an injury like this again."

Rose played in the first 10 games this season despite suffering from blurred vision in his left eye, the result of a fractured orbital bone suffered on Sept. 29. Overall, he's averaged 13.6 points and shot just 37.7 percent from the field.

But Rose was having one of his better performances of the season against Indiana. He scored 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, second only to his 29-point game against Oklahoma City.

Rose also went 2-for-2 from 3-point range against the Pacers, after going 1-for-18 previously. Maybe he's starting to focus in on the rim.

"He's getting there," Hoiberg told reporters in Phoenix.

"He's getting that rhythm. He's got 10 games under his belt now, plus about a quarter of a preseason game. You can tell he's getting in really good shape. I don't think this is going to be something that holds him out a long time.

"I've been really pleased with Derrick the way he's gone out and approached things, the amount of work he's put in. It was great to see him have the type of game he did the other night."

Phoenix presented an interesting guard matchup for the Bulls. The Suns' top two scorers are Eric Bledsoe at 23.0 points and Brandon Knight with 20.2 points. Either player could be considered the point guard.

The Suns had won three in a row heading into this one and Knight produced an impressive triple-double, the first of his career, on Monday against the Lakers. Knight finished with 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds.

Through Tuesday's action, Phoenix ranked third in the league in points per game at 105.8 and second in possessions per 48 minutes.

The Bulls were hoping to play at a faster pace this season, but haven't gotten it done yet. They started the day ranked 13th in points per game (100.9) and 11th in possessions per 48 minutes.

The Bulls are No. 2, though, in defensive field-goal percentage. Old habits die hard.