Can Bulls finish strong without Rose, Hinrich?
After the Bulls' playoff push was derailed in Milwaukee, things were relatively quiet Thursday at the Advocate Center.
Kirk Hinrich had an MRI on his injured left knee and team officials later revealed he hyperextended it and is listed as questionable for Friday. Coach Tom Thibodeau also said Derrick Rose is "unlikely" to be active for Friday's game against Detroit at the United Center.
Hinrich was injured during the third quarter of Wednesday's 95-91 loss at Milwaukee when 270-pound Bucks center Zaza Pachulia fell into Hinrich's left knee. Hinrich tried to stand up after the collision occurred, but had to stay on the ground for a few minutes before walking gingerly toward the locker room.
X-rays taken after the game were negative, Thibodeau said.
"He said last night it wasn't too bad," Thibodeau said.
There was more of the same for Rose. He took on full contact in practice, did some 4-on-4 scrimmaging and continues to make good progress. He has missed 18 games due to arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
"The scrimmaging is important," Thibodeau said Thursday. "That's about as close as you can get to what's required in the game, but nothing is going to be the same as the game. He's just got to continue to do all the things he's doing and get out there."
Rose himself said Wednesday conditioning was his biggest concern. And he needs to play, obviously, to work his way back into his usual form. After Friday, the Bulls will have six games left in the regular season.
With all that in mind, it would make sense for Rose to start playing as soon as possible, even if it's just for 20 minutes a game.
"He's not going be where he was when he left off, and anybody's who's missed that amount of time, it's normal protocol," Thibodeau said. "We'll see when he's ready to go, then we'll decide how much (he plays).
"He's got to play well when he's out there. You can't leave him out there if he's not playing well."
The Bulls' next game after Detroit is a Sunday afternoon national telecast in Cleveland. Maybe Rose will come back on a big stage or he might wait until the Bulls visit Orlando and Miami on Wednesday and Thursday.
By losing to Milwaukee, the Bulls dropped to the No. 4 seed in the East. They're currently tied with Toronto for third, but the Raptors own the tiebreaker because they're a division champ and the Bulls are not, even though the Bulls won the season series 4-0.
All of Toronto's remaining games are against teams with losing records, but five of the seven contests are on the road and all but one are against teams still in playoff contention. The Raptors play Boston twice, Charlotte twice, along with Brooklyn and Miami on the road.
The Bulls (45-30) need to avoid lapses like the ones that happened in Milwaukee. The Bulls gave up 6 offensive rebounds in the first five minutes of the game and the Bucks finished with 20 offensive boards, tying a season-high for a Bulls opponent. The Bulls also had a bad night at the foul line, making just 24 of 37 free throws.
"I think we're fifth (in the league) in rebound margin. So it's been one of our strengths really for most of the year," Thibodeau said. "The initial defense was good, but giving a team a second and third crack at something, it's going to be a problem. That and the turnovers hurt us.
"We didn't close out the second quarter well, we had an 8-point lead and squandered that. The fourth, we wanted to be at our best and weren't. That being said, 1-point game and we got the ball with 1:30 to go and couldn't get it to go down."
Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter @McGrawDHBulls.