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Soreness aside, Rose wants to play vs. Raptors

Derrick Rose walked gingerly toward the interview area at the Berto Center on Tuesday. His right wrist was in a brace, his right elbow wrapped, a Blackhawks stocking cap on his head.

Once he arrived at his destination, Rose promptly told reporters he expects to play Wednesday at Toronto.

“If its up to me, I'm playing,” Rose said. “Knowing that it's only sore, usually I can play through soreness.”

This one seems to be more than just soreness. Rose was hurting all over after taking a nasty fall to the court late in Monday's victory over Indiana.

“Last night was probably the worst I've felt in a long time,” he said. “Almost my whole body was sore. I had to soak everything. It was a bad night. Right now, I'm a little beat up, but I think I should be able to play through it.”

There were actually a couple of health scares against the Pacers. With about five minutes left in the 92-73 victory, Rose turned his left ankle when he stepped on the foot of teammate Taj Gibson. Rose stayed in the game and declared later that his ankle was fine.

With just under two minutes remaining, Rose drove to the basket aggressively. As he left his feet, he was fouled from behind by T.J. Ford while guard Brandon Rush slid underneath Rose in a very late attempt to draw a charge.

Rush knocked Rose off-balance and the Bulls star landed hard on his chest after falling about five feet. Rose put his arms out to break the fall and his right side seemed to get the worst of it.

Asked Tuesday what part of his body hurt the most, Rose mentioned one that didn't appear to be injured initially.

“It would have to be my hip. My hip is really messed up,” he said. “But I've just been getting treatment, will get treatment on the plane, get treatment in Toronto and hopefully for the game I should be all right.”

The right wrist, which he injured last season in a collision with Dwight Howard, seemed to be the greatest concern after the game.

“The wrist is really not that bad. If anything, my elbow hurts more than my wrist,” Rose said. “I'm just happy and blessed that I didn't break anything. At first, I thought I was going to hit my head. I kind of held myself with my arm and my wrist. It was messed up a little bit. I'm blessed that nothing's really that serious.”

Until being told by reporters on Tuesday, Rose didn't realize Rush was the player who caused him to fall. Rose said he has no hard feelings, but players should know better than to slide underneath someone who is in the air.

After leading by 4 points midway through the fourth quarter, the Bulls pulled away late and were ahead by 13 when Rose was injured. Maybe that would have been a good time to kick it out for a 3-point shot.

“It's basketball. You learn from it,” Rose said. “I think I was just mad that they weren't calling the calls and I was just trying to drive very hard and make them call it, and that ended up happening.”

The scary foul led to 2 of the 3 free throws Rose attempted against Indiana. Coach Tom Thibodeau had no complaints with Rose's decision to attack.

“No. I don't want him to change the way he plays,” Thibodeau said. “Two minutes to go, a team like Indiana that shoots the three as well as they do, you're never safe. I want him to be aggressive and keep attacking and I want him to play for 48 minutes.”

Maybe Rose will get a chance to play a lot of minutes at Toronto, but his status is very uncertain.