According to Mike McGraw of the Chicago Daily Herald, Derrick Rose is in a boot following an ankle injury he had in the first preseason game. It is unclear when Derrick Rose will return to the court, as the injury looks worse than what was originally let on.

Derrick Rose missed his second straight preseason game Saturday with a sore right ankle, and he may not be back anytime soon.

Sitting next to Rose at his locker before the game was a walking boot, which he acquired after the Bulls returned from London this week.

“It’s going to take awhile, but I’m being patient with it and just hoping and praying I can do something to make it better,” Rose said before a 98-86 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. “It’s a tendon that runs behind the bone in my ankle. There’s fluid in my ankle, so I’m just waiting for that to leave.”

Rose hasn’t been doing any running or jogging on his injured leg this week and said he has kept the foot elevated at night. The second-year guard turned the ankle in the Oct. 2 game at Indiana but kept playing.

“I just wanted to win the game,” he said. “I knew it was something serious when later on that night I really couldn’t walk.”

What is with the Bulls doctors? It seems like they’re routinely misdiagnosing players, and the injuries gradually become worse than what we were told as time goes on. (See Luol Deng last year).

If Derrick Rose is down for any type of extended time, the Bulls are in trouble. The entire idea of matching last year’s team’s win total or surpassing it was based on Derrick Rose taking a step forward toward stardom. Without Rose, it will be very ugly at times.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the New York Knicks 102 to 98 as they failed to close out the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The Bulls were plagued with selfishness down the stretch. With the Bulls down one, Derrick Rose took a contested layup, ignoring the wide open Ben Gordon in the corner. The next play down, the Bulls called Gordon’s number to try to tie it with a three, but Gordon ended up taking an awkward fall away three in which he didn’t quite have his legs under him, making the shot fall short.

The Bulls defense was horrific, with one exception, Tyrus Thomas. Tyrus Thomas had a really nice game, putting up 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He altered a lot of shots, rebounded well, and put the ball in the basket. He had 5 turnovers, but it was still a very good game from Thomas.

Derrick Rose had a decent game, finishing with 20 points and 8 assists. The game was a story of two halves for Rose. In the first half, he looked good because he was making his jumpshot. In the second half, he had difficulty making his jumpshot, and really took the Bulls out of the game with his jumpshots.

One thing is clear, while the Bulls play has improved, one major problem still remains, and that is the coaching of Vinny Del Negro. Vinny Del Negro sat Gordon almost the entire fourth quarter, to bring him in with 31 seconds left in the game, asking Gordon to save the Bulls. Players who sit for entire quarters don’t usually come in and hit big shots.

Del Negro needs to not only read the scouting report on the other team, but also on his own team. Ben Gordon is a big time fourth quarter player. Kirk Hinrich was one of the worst clutch players in the NBA last season, and for most of his career. As would be expected if one were to read the scouting report of the Bulls in the clutch, Kirk Hinrich missed all three of his fourth quarter shots, and missed a free throw with 1:10 left in the game, and the Bulls tied at 97.

This isn’t to say that Ben Gordon by any means would have saved the day. He was quite awful today, but we have seen so many times, Gordon be awful for the first three quarters, catch fire in the fourth, and win us the game.

As aforementioned, Ben Gordon was terrible today. Defensively he struggled guarding Quentin Richardson in the post. Most of the time, the complaint about Gordon being abused in the post is a machination of the imagination, but today it was reality. Offensively, Gordon had some nice passes, and did all the right things, his shot just wasn’t falling, as he shot 3-15. It looks like Gordon is in his usual winter slump. Gordon finished the game with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.

For those who threw out the idea of ditching Gordon after the Bulls two game winning streak after Hinrich returned are clearly in the wrong. The Bulls really need Ben Gordon, and today is a perfect example why. Today, the Bulls got good games out of Hinrich, Deng, and Thomas, and a decent game out of Rose, yet they still loss. If Gordon was making his shots as usual, the Bulls would have easily won this. Once Gordon breaks out of his mini slump, given the level of play of the other Bulls, the Bulls should start winning a lot of games.

Luol Deng put in another strong showing, pouring in 20 pouints and grabbing 10 rebounds for the double double. It would be interesting to find out what happened with Deng, because Kirk Hinrich’s return isn’t a very good explanation. The most obvious answer, would be that John Paxson threatened to trade Deng from the team he loves if his play didn’t improve. Deng is back to vintage 06-07 Deng, and with that, the Bulls are a much better team.

Joakim Noah dominated the glass, grabbing 18 rebounds. Noah had 3 blocks to go along with his rebounds. Noah was a positive force inside tonight.

Kirk Hinrich had a nice 13 points and 7 assists off the bench. His defense was a big step down from his previous four outings.

Quentin Richardson had 24 points in the game. He took advantage of Gordon in the post from time to time, and was on fire from three, shooting 5 for 6.

The former Bull, Chris Duhon was great today. Duhon finished with 19 points in the game. Duhon was clutch, and key in the Knicks victory. Duhon hit the go ahead basket with 31 seconds left in the game, and then expanded the Knicks lead to three with two free throws.

David Lee scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He shot a horrible 3-14, likely the result of an ankle injury he incurred early in the game.

Nate Robinson added in 12 points, Al Harrington had 11, and the rookie, Danilo Gallinari had 9 points.

Andres Nocioni and Drew Gooden were bad today. Nocioni shot 1 for 9, and Drew Gooden shot 1 for 5.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 18-24 on the season.

The Chicago Bulls lost to the Miami Heat 90 to 77 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL.

The game was tied 64 to 64 going into the fourth quarter. From there on out, it was all Miami, as they outscored the Bulls 26 to 13 in the fourth.

The Bulls lost in part because of some poor coaching by Vinny Del Negro. Ben Gordon got off to a good start, scoring 11 points in the first quarter. Del Negro then benched Gordon for most of the 2nd quarter, assuring that Gordon would go cold. Del Negro needs to learn to leave in the hot hand. If the Bulls could have ridden Gordon’s hot hand in the 2nd quarter, the game may have had a better outcome.

Following the hot start, Gordon settled into a rather poor game. Gordon finished with 15 points on 6-16 shooting, 1 rebound, and 1 assist. There is not much to read into with Gordon’s low assist totals, as his teammates simply missed too many wide open shots off of Gordon passes for him to get assists. Gordon started out hot shooting wise, and was alright in the 3rd, but was cold in the fourth after having been frozen out of the offense in the 2nd half. Gordon did a good job handling the Heat’s constant double teams tonight.

Gordon and company did a nice job on Dwyane Wade, limiting him to 28 points 11-23 shooting, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. The Bulls held Wade to less than his average on less than stellar efficiency. In addition, they did not let Wade have a big playmaking game, limiting him to 2 assists, well below his season average.

Ben Gordon is now one three point shot away from tying Scottie Pippen as the all time Chicago Bulls three point shooter.

The Bulls also found it difficult to win with Luol Deng leaving the game with an ankle injury. Deng had 8 points and 9 rebounds before leaving the game.

Derrick Rose had another poor game. Rose had 10 points on 3-14 shooting, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers. He did not look good at all, on either side of the ball, allowing Chalmers to get 16 points and 5 assists. When Rose is playing like this, he really hurts the Bulls.

Larry Hughes was the Bulls worst player though. Hughes had 13 points on 5-14 shooting. Hughes seems to be back to playing his selfish brand of basketball, and needs to be weaned out of the rotation if this selfish streak continues.

The Bulls got solid production out of Aaron Gray and Tyrus Thomas. Aaron Gray had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Tyrus Thomas had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 1 block. The Bulls interior defense is improving a bit with Gooden out of the line up, but they’re offense appears to be worse with the absence of Gooden’s jumpshooting.

Michael Beasley played very good. Beasley had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He looked really good on both sides of the ball. Keeping Beasley on a tight leash to hold him accountable on defense seems to be paying dividends for the Heat.

Andres Nocioni scored 10 points in the game.

The Bulls fall to 13-15 with tonight’s loss and are now on the outside looking in on the playoffs.

The Chicago Bulls fell to the Boston Celtics 126 to 108 in Boston earlier tonight.

The Bulls were competitive in the first half, keeping the game at 57 to 55 going into the half. It was all Celtics in the second half.

Vinny Del Negro made a very questionable, Jim Boylan like coaching move tonight. With the Bulls down by a manageable deficit, Del Negro opted to keep Gordon on the bench, while benching Derrick Rose to bring in the end of the bench. The Celtics then pulled away and put the game completely out of reach.

Ben Gordon had his first bad game in awhile. Every time that Gordon touched the ball, the Celtics would double team him. Gordon finished the game with 10 points and 5 turnovers. The Celtics forced Gordon into a lot of mistakes when doubled, as evidenced by the 5 turnovers. To make matters worse for Gordon, when he was doubled, his teammates did not come to the ball so he could pass it to them, forcing Gordon to make some wild passes. Still, Gordon shot the ball pretty well, shooting 4 for 9, with one of those misses being on a desperation three at the end of the 24 seconds clock.

This is why Vinny’s coaching decision was so disheartening. Gordon was shooting the ball fine, the Bulls were down by a manageable deficit with lots of game left, and Vinny just quit. We’ve seen Gordon go off in the fourth to get the Bulls back in the game time and time again, so to just sit him when the game is within reach was very silly. If Vinny wants to just quit on games, then he shouldn’t be coaching in the NBA.

Derrick Rose had a solid bounce back game, finishing with 14 points and 5 assists. The Celtics defense was really good, as evidenced by the 3 turnovers they forced Rose to make.

The Bulls got good production out of their small forward position. Andres Nocioni had 16 points on 5-10 shooting, and was a big part in keeping the game close in the first half. Luol Deng scored 19 points on 8-15 shooting. Deng moved very well without the ball.

As usual, the Bulls got pounded inside. The Bulls were shorthanded in the front court, as Thomas sat out with a concussion, and Drew Gooden left the game after 5 minutes with an ankle injury. Kendrick Perkins scored a career high 25 points, and Kevin Garnett added in 17 points.

Ray Allen was on fire and difficult to stop, scoring 27 points on 10-18 shooting. Ben Gordon had some trouble staying with Allen, but Allen hit some difficult shots even when Gordon played good defense. What was more impressive was Allen’s suffocating defense on Gordon.

Paul Pierce added in 16 points.

Thabo Sefolosha made an appearance tonight, finishing with 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks, but seemingly had no effect on the game.

The Bulls fall to 12-14 with this loss.