Bulls' Portis played through foot injury caused by heat pack burn

It's not uncommon for athletes to reveal nagging injuries after their seasons have come to an end, but there was nothing familiar about Bobby Portis' revelation Saturday.

A day after Portis' Chicago Bulls were eliminated by the Boston Celtics, Portis revealed that he'd been playing through a foot injury for much of the last two months after suffering a third-degree burn from a heat pack before an early March game.

"The heat pack burned me before the game. I was actually on the (trainer's) table. I couldn't feel it. I had my headphones in, but I didn't feel (the pack) burn through," Portis said, as reported by ESPN's Nick Friedell.

He added, "Every time I tied my shoe up, it was right there on the spot. After the game, it would be bloody and nasty. ...

"Every time I bent my foot, it hurt, it hurt. I didn't really never complain because I'm one of those guys that, I think I'm tough, so I didn't really try to tell anybody about it, so I just hold it in myself. Other than that, it affected me, but at the same time I followed through because I got in the rotation. I didn't want to let a foot injury get me out and have to work my way back into it."

Portis, who began a streak of 12 consecutive starts just over a week before the March 4 heat pack incident, averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 64 appearances during his sophomore season, but averaged 10 points and 6.4 rebounds in 21 regular-season games after suffering the burn. The 22-year-old logged 20 minutes per game during Chicago's first-round series against Boston.