With Rose out, Grizzlies rout Bulls
When Derrick Rose was scratched from the lineup because of a nagging left-toe injury, this result was predictable.
The Memphis Grizzlies were playing before a rare full house at the FedEx Forum on Monday afternoon, with the sour taste of a 40-point loss in Chicago on Jan. 1 still fresh in their minds.
The Grizzlies built a huge lead, shook off a Bulls comeback attempt, and finished off a 102-86 victory.
What remains unpredictable is how many more games Rose will miss with this toe injury. He sat out last Wednesday against Washington, then was back to his usual self for two games last weekend.
After warming up on the court before Monday’s contest, Rose decided it would be wise to sit out.
“I went out there to shoot … a little sore, sorer than usual,” he told reporters after the game. “I decided to sit out. I was mad, mad the whole time, but hopefully in the future it gets better.”
Before the contest Rose talked about the status of his injury, which has been called both a sprain and turf toe, and whether he aggravated it over the weekend.
“That’s almost every game, where you jam it,” he said. “By the way that I play, the way that I push off, it hurts. It’s kind of irritating, where you want it to go away. I’ve got that old-school mentality where I don’t want to miss a game.”
The Bulls (12-3) play again Tuesday against Phoenix at the United Center. Once again, it appears Rose will be a game-time decision. But with two off-days to follow, he might be encouraged to give the toe some more rest.
“If it was up to me, yeah, I want to play tomorrow,” Rose added. “I’ll try my hardest, but if not I’ll have to sit out again. It’s my decision. They left it up to me for tomorrow.”
There were a couple of good things to take from this game.
First was the return of point guard C.J. Watson, who had been out with a left-elbow sprain since that Jan. 1 game against Memphis. After the contest, Watson told reporters he’s still feeling pain in the elbow but is willing to play through it.
Watson scored 17 points and got to the foul line nine times, with 3 assists and 4 turnovers. Neither Watson nor starter John Lucas III was stellar in the first half.
When the Bulls fell behind by 27 points in the third quarter, Watson checked in for Lucas and helped lead a comeback. They cut the gap to 9 points on several occasions early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get enough defensive stops to keep it going.
The other comeback king was Taj Gibson, who finished with 16 points and 4 blocks. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 20 points.
Memphis point guard Mike Conley didn’t play in the first meeting between these teams. With Rose out of the way, he and Rudy Gay did a number on the Bulls’ defense.
Conley admitted the 40-point loss was part of the Grizzlies’ pregame inspiration.
“I said, ‘Let’s not forget what happened,’” Conley said. “That was the last thing I said to them: ‘That was an embarrassing loss. Let’s go out there and just play hard and leave it all out there on the court.’
“Without having D-Rose out there, we had to take advantage of it.”
Conley finished with 20 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, Gay added 24 points, and the Grizzlies shot nearly 70 percent in the first half while building a 58-38 lead.