Bulls' Thibodeau: No re-injury for Rose, was pulled Tuesday as precaution

Blame head coach Tom Thibodeau, not Derrick Rose.

That was Thibodeau's message following the Chicago Bulls' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, a loss in which Rose was removed from the game at halftime, having played just 10 minutes.

The team said at the time that Rose would not return due to tightness in his left hamstring, but Thibodeau said after the game that it was the coach's decision not to risk any further aggravation by playing Rose. That could be due to the fact that Rose was playing in his first back-to-back of the season, at high altitude in Denver, and didn't look particularly spry in the minutes he did play.

"Nothing happened," Thibodeau said. "Didn't want to risk anything."

Rose is set to be re-examined, though the timeline for that re-examination is unclear. The Bulls are off until Friday but remain in the middle of a seven-game road trip. The point guard is not expected to need an MRI, with Thibodeau saying he thinks Rose is fine. Rose himself said he didn't feel anything pop or pull, but he was on board

The hope here is that a few days of rest will be enough for Rose. If that's the case, having played Rose on a back-to-back won't look like too bad a decision, but the choice will surely be called into question of Rose misses more time. Rose expressed hope he'll play Friday against Boston, but this has game-time decision written all over it.

And so continues Rose's up-and-down year, which has now had him play two games, miss two, play one, miss two, play two, miss four and play two.