Bulls' Rose needs 10 stitches after accident with knife

Last week, an NFL star accidentally shot himself in a New York nightclub.

On Monday morning, an NBA rookie sensation, who happens to play for the Bulls, needed 10 stitches in his left forearm after stabbing himself with a knife.

Strange things happen all the time, and Derrick Rose insisted his early-morning rush to Highland Park Hospital was all because of a careless accident.

The way he stood before the media with an embarrassed smile on his face at the Berto Center dimmed the natural inclination to label his story suspicious.

Here's the explanation: Rose was sitting in bed, using a kitchen knife to slice an apple. He went to get a bottle of water, came back and flopped down on the bed, forgetting the knife was there, and opened a gash on the bottom side of his left forearm, just below the elbow.

There is no reason to believe the injury will prevent Rose from playing tonight against the New York Knicks at the United Center. The stitches are expected to come out in 10 to 14 days.

"It was a silly accident," Rose said. "I panicked when it first happened, called my trainer (Fred Tedeschi). We got it stitched up around 8 this morning. Fred had to rush out of bed and get me to the hospital. It was a large wound, but they healed it up."

This incident in no way resembled New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg last week. The police were never involved. No one tried to dispose of the weapon. But it become fodder for humor among Rose's teammates.

"Mom always said don't eat in bed," guard Larry Hughes joked. "Got to be a rookie mistake. We'll make fun of him a little bit, but he's doing all right. I was watching YouTube the other day and saw the ceiling fall down on somebody. Things happen."

Rose didn't get defensive when it was suggested that some people might find the apple story difficult to believe.

"It's the truth," he said. "I'm not worried about that. I called my mom. She was like, 'What are you doing?' It was a freak accident, really. I was very scared. Next time, I'll get somebody else to cut it."

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro didn't make a big deal out of Rose's accident.

"You go with the old thing: In this league, nothing surprises you," he said. "That was one that came out of left field a little bit this morning. But you just deal with it and move on."

Rose doesn't want to miss tonight's matchup with the Knicks, who have made a star out of former Bulls point guard Chris Duhon.

In the best of his four years with the Bulls, Duhon averaged 8.7 points and 5.0 assists in 2006-07. This season in coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense, Duhon is averaging 12.1 points and 8.3 assists. He's also playing more. During Sunday's win over Detroit, Duhon never left the floor, logging 48 minutes, and finished with 25 points and 9 assists.

The Bulls made no serious attempt to re-sign Duhon last summer and he jumped to the Knicks as a free agent for a surprisingly-high $11 million over two years.

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