Comebacking Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose suffered a left hamstring injury during last night’s 100-93 road win over the Toronto Raptors, and if you’re worried this could be another season-ending injury for the 2010 NBA MVP, he and one of his star teammates have something to say about that.
“I guess it’s just cramps in my hamstrings,” said Rose after the game, appearing not to be too worried about his injury. “I think it’s minor, and they decided to pull me out.” Rose will be re-evaluated later on today, and while Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau believes there’s a good chance he will require an MRI, Rose remained quite optimistic, adding that ice and muscle stimulation may do the trick for him as he hopes to return to practice today.
The injury happened during a turnover with less than two minutes remaining in the game, as Rose lost control of the ball and dropped to the floor. He got up, and made his way back slowly to the bench, unsure of how he had tweaked his hamstring. “I don’t know, man,” said the star point guard. “Just missing two years, now you’re just going to fall for no reason I guess, man. Just trying to work every day, put in consistent work every day. And don’t lose any confidence with these setbacks.”
Meanwhile, Bulls center Joakim Noah was far more passionate as he expressed his disappointment in how the media is seemingly taking Rose’s recent statements out of context, and seemingly waiting for his next major injury after missing most of the past two seasons.
“Everytime something happens to him, people act like it’s the end of the world, and that’s [expletive] so lame to me,” said Noah in a separate postgame interview. “Relax. He’s coming back from two crazy surgeries, obviously we’re being conservative with him, and when things aren’t going right, he’s got to listen to his body more than anybody. So everybody needs to chill the [expletive] out.”