Derrick Rose Injury: Bulls Star May Miss Third Straight Game With Turf Toe

Derrick Rose is suffering through a terribly painful toe sprain on his left big toe, and he may not be able to suit up against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday Night. The Bulls and Rose have danced around and flip flopped on whether the injury is a sprain on the top of the toe or a more severe and chronic turf toe injury. KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune talked to Rose on Friday, and the guard seemed completely unsure about when he would be able to return to the court:

"Knowing that right when it starts feeling good it can go right back to zero, I have to make the smart decision. I wasn't able to bend my toe in like three years. When this injury happened, I aggravated it and I played on it sooner. It was real bad. Injuries are going to happen. That's why I always get treatment. This is worse than my second season. That season, I just played through it but it wasn't that bad. Not being able to bend my toe in three years and somebody just forced their weight on my toe, it definitely hurt it."

While Rose described the horrific pain of his current injury, head coach Tom Thibodeau's was on AM1000 the day before to make the diagnosis seem even less clear than before, calling it "more of a sprain than the turf toe". In any case, Rose is feeling pain and a lack of mobility in his injured left toe and likely won't be able to go against the Cavs. As Johnson pointed out, if Rose misses both games of the back-to-back he will have rested for eight days in this compressed season.

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Derrick Rose Injury Update: Chicago Bulls Point Guard May Miss Tuesday's Game

On the heels of the Chicago Bulls' (12-3) win-streak-snapping loss to the Memphis Grizzlies (6-6), the Bulls have received some additional unpleasant news concerning their star PG Derrick Rose:

DRose said "6 or 7" when asked to rate his pain on scale of 1-10. Said decision on TUES is his but team is leaning towards holding him out.

— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 16, 2012

Rose, the reigning MVP from the 2010-2011 season, has already missed two games in the 2011-2012 season. Because of the NBA lockout in 2011, the Bulls' 2011-2012 schedule is highly compressed, so smaller injuries can have a much more potent effect.

The Bulls are now 1-1 without Rose, who leads the team with 271 points and 113 assists. Rose entered the league as the top overall draft pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. In 252 NBA games, Rose has a .467 FG% and has averaged 20.9 PPG.

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Derrick Rose Injury: No Decision On Guard's Status For Boston Celtics Game Until Friday

A sprained big toe kept Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose from playing in the team's game against Washington on Wednesday, though the Bulls had no trouble beating the Wizards without him. Chicago faces a bigger challenge on Friday when it travels to Boston to play the Celtics, and while Rose's status for the game will not be determined until the day of the game, according to the Tribune's K.C. Johnson, Rose reportedly has told people that his toe felt better Thursday.

John Lucas III played a season-high 46 minutes as Rose's replacement on Wednesday and scored 25 points, though he made just 11 of 28 field goal attempts.

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Derrick Rose Injury: Star Guard May Return To Chicago Bulls On Friday Against Boston Celtics

Derrick Rose is dealing with a sprained toe that caused him to miss the seventh game of his Bulls career on Wednesday, but the team is hoping he can return against the Boston Celtics on Friday.