Hinrich has concussion, Bulls keep working
The Bulls’ goal of a healthier season is off to a poor start as Kirk Hinrich joined the preseason injury list Saturday.
Midway through the fourth quarter of a 103-98 win over Indiana, Hinrich suffered a concussion when he fell backward and struck his head on teammate Erik Murphy’s knee. Murphy escaped the collision unscathed.
It’s not clear how long Hinrich will be out, but he’s not likely to play Monday when the Bulls host Milwaukee.
“We’ll see. He has to go through the protocol, passing a series of tests before he’s cleared to play,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He said he’s feeling a lot better today. We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”
The Bulls were already planning to rest Joakim Noah for another week so he can get over a groin strain. Jimmy Butler missed the past two contests with a bruised knee.
“He’ll (practice) tomorrow,” Thibodeau said of Butler. “We’ll see where he is tomorrow and make a decision after that.”
In the meantime, the Bulls put in more work at the Berto Center on Sunday. They might be 5-0 in preseason, but it takes more than that to earn time off from Thibodeau.
“The challenge if you win a ballgame is not allow things to slide that you wouldn’t allow to slide if you lost,” Thibodeau said. “We were fortunate. They missed some free throws. We made some plays down the stretch. We didn’t play anywhere near 48 minutes of good basketball.”
The Bulls fell behind by 12 points in the second quarter, while the Pacers shot 57.6 percent from the field in the first half.
Thanks to 32 points and 9 assists from Derrick Rose — along with improved defense and 6 missed free throws by the Pacers in the final three minutes — the Bulls rallied to win a game that served as a convincing dress rehearsal for the regular season.
On Sunday, Thibodeau said the Bulls watched film, walked through some things and focused on offensive strategies.
“We had a good film session today, which allows you to see things,” Thibodeau said. “Sometimes you may think you’re going hard or executing correctly, then once you look at the film, you see you can do it a lot better.
“The big thing everything has to ask themselves: Are they putting everything they have into each and every practice? That can’t wane. You can’t be good one day and bad the next. It’s got to be consistent and we have to get the entire team committed to doing that.
“You have to have the ability to come in after a game and practice the right way. Or if you have a good game, fight human nature and come in and be hungry the next day. I didn’t think we had the right intensity to start (Saturday’s) game, so that’s something we have to correct.”