Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose suffered a hamstring injury on Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both Rose and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau categorized the injury as "minor," the Chicago Tribune and ESPN report.
The injury appeared to happen in the fourth quarter when Rose drove the length of the court and scored a layup. He was pulled 24 seconds later because of the tweaked hamstring; Chicago went on to defeat Cleveland, 96-81.
"It's just a minor strain, nothing serious," Rose told reporters after the game, via The Tribune. "It's nothing big at all. I should be ready (Friday). I'm still able to walk around, move around the way I want to. It's just a little sore."
Thibodeau, who doesn't believe the injury to be serious, will be cautious with Rose.
"He'll be re-evaluated [Tuesday]," Thibodeau said, via ESPN. "But it looks like a minor right hamstring. We called the timeout just to get him out. He tweaked it. When he gets re-evaluated, we'll have more information. It appears to be minor."
The 2011 MVP wasn't certain on which part of the play the injury occurred.
"I really didn't feel anything until after I came down (from the drive) and then went back to the bench," said Rose. "They were asking me about it. Then, coming back in there was a play where somebody knocked the ball out of bounds. They said I wasn't moving good enough to be on the court.
"Stuff happens. I just have to play through it and get back healthy."
Rose appears to be still in the process of knocking off rust and getting back into basketball shape. After missing the entire 2012-13 season, Rose is averaging 31.5 minutes per game - minor tweaks and soreness aren't uncommon for a player readjusting to the physical demands of an NBA game.
The injury had nothing to do with his surgically repaired left knee.
Chicago plays the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
