The Official Site of Derrick Rose

Wed, Nov 12th 2008, 10:12

Career night for Derrick not enough to leade Bulls past Hawks

Derrick matched his career high with 26 points, pulled down a career high 10 rebounds, and added 6 assists, despite suffering a pulled muscle in his back during the 1st quarter. Derrick refused to leave the game, and opted to play through the pain. He ended up playing over 42 minutes, standing up during timeouts to keep his back as loose as it could be.

“He pulled a muscle in his back in the first quarter,” said Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro. “I think he’ll be fine. His back tightened up a little. He wasn’t sitting during timeouts very often. He didn’t want to come out of the game. We were going to take him out of the game and he was like, ‘I’m fine.’

Derrick continued to battle all game, shouldering almost all of the ball handling duties due to the injury to Kirk Heinrich, but it wasn’t enough to carry the Bulls past the Hawks. Atlanta’s 113-108 takes them to 6-0 on the season. Despite the loss Derrick had his best all around game of the year statistically, and also showed his shooting touch. Derrick went 8-9 at the free throw line and hit a number of mid range jumpers, showing the confidence he has in his shot when the team badly needed buckets.

After the game Derrick’s back was sore, but he is optimistic. He will get treatment today on his back and hopes to practice with the team and be ready to go when the Bulls host the Mavericks on Thursday.

“He’s got a little bit of an issue there and we’re going to have to monitor that,” said Del Negro.“He’s going to battle hard and do what he can to give us a chance. That’s what he did tonight. It wasn’t enough.”

Game highlights….