CHICAGO (AP) — The searing pain in Derrick Rose's stomach makes eating just about impossible. Taking over a game, however?
Well, he can still do that. It's just a little more
difficult.
Carlos Boozer had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Rose
scored 20 points despite two stomach ulcers and the Chicago Bulls beat the
struggling Indiana Pacers 110-89 on Saturday night.
"I told him on the bench, 'I can't tell you
how proud I am, to be going through what you're going through
physically,'" Boozer said. "I'm sure mentally all that stuff drains
you when you can't do what you're used to do."
Rose played well enough for the second straight
night, and the Bulls pulled away down the stretch, outscoring Indiana 33-17 in
the fourth quarter.
Luol Deng added 19 points after scoring 26 the
previous night in a win over the Magic, helping the Bulls improve to 11-0
versus the Central while remaining the lone unbeaten team against its own
division.
They ran away in the fourth but got a major scare
about three minutes into the period, when Taj Gibson had to be helped off with
a sprained right ankle after crashing to the court. He hit the back of teammate
Ronnie Brewer's foot and landed awkwardly as Indiana's Danny Granger (19 points)
drove the lane.
X-rays showed no structural damage, and coach Tom
Thibodeau said Gibson could have re-entered the game.
By then, the Bulls were in control and the Pacers
were headed toward their seventh loss in eight games.
Josh McRoberts led Indiana with a career-high 20
points but was also a victim of a ferocious dunk by Brewer in the closing
minutes that led to a technical for him and an ejection for coach Jim O'Brien.
Brewer threw down a ferocious two-hander off a feed
from Deng despite taking a shot to the face. As Brewer completed the
three-point play, McRoberts had his arm up high and was initially called for a
hostile play while jockeying for the rebound with Boozer.
The call against him got downgraded to a technical
but not before O'Brien got tossed after walking on the court and picking up his
second technical of the game.
Kyle Korver (16 points) hit two free throws to make
it 102-82 with 3:23 left in the game.
"Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver, we couldn't
guard them down the stretch," O'Brien said.
Rose came on strong after a slow start, scoring all
but five of his points in the second half, but it wasn't an easy week for him.
He started feeling ill early on and was diagnosed
by doctors at Rush University Medical Center on Wednesday.
Even so, he decided to play against Orlando on
Friday night and although he finished with 22 points and 12 assists in a win,
he was just 6 of 21 from the field against the Magic.
He gutted it out again on Saturday even though he
said he was still "feeling really beat up" and "fatigued."
"I took it easy the first half," he said.
"In the second half I just tried to be aggressive. Taking shots they were
giving me and they were just falling."
He can barely eat, he's living off protein shakes,
and he acknowledged before the game that some time off might help. But he also
said, "This is the NBA. You've got to tough it out."
Should he even be out there?
"He doesn't want to miss any games,"
Boozer said. "He has big goals. You guys heard him at the beginning of the
season — he wants to be the MVP. MVPs don't take days off."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Charles Cherney)
