Nick Friedell, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Derrick Rose injures right knee

NBA, Chicago Bulls

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, who missed all of last season while recovering from reconstructive surgery to his left knee, injured his right knee during the third quarter of Friday night's 98-95 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and did not return.

The 2011 NBA MVP was taken to the locker room at the end of the third quarter, putting barely any weight on the injured leg. Following the game, he left the trainer's room on crutches and appeared to be in considerable pain.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose will have an MRI on the knee Saturday in Los Angeles after flying there with the team.

Rose was not made available to the media for comment. Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in April 2012.

"He has pain and he felt like he couldn't push off his right knee," Thibodeau said.

The coach avoided speculating about the injury.

"I'm concerned. Any time anyone goes down, you're concerned," he said. "But I don't want to speculate until we get more information for you guys. We'll have more [Saturday] for you guys."

He later added, "I know how much work he's put into his rehab, the type of person he is, the type of player he is. So concern for that, I feel for him because of all the things he does mean to our team."

Thibodeau and teammate Taj Gibson said Rose was disappointed he couldn't finish the game.

"I went in and checked on him. He said he was feeling OK but he has to wait and see for [Saturday]. He has to wait and see what the MRI says. He didn't seem nervous," Gibson said.

"Of course he's a competitor; he was more focused on us trying to pull that win out. He understood guys was battling real hard late. ... He was just focused on us trying to get that win, but right now he's just focused on seeing what the MRI's going to say. But he's in good hopes, his head was high, he wasn't feeling bad for himself, he just has to see what's going to happen."

Luol Deng addressed the possibility of Rose missing some time.

"We've been there before. We just got to pick it up," he said. "Obviously, it would be a setback not having him but we've been there before so we just got to play together."

Said Thibodeau: "We'll take it step by step. We have to figure that part out and we will. The games are going to keep coming. No one will feel sorry for us. So we're going to have to be ready."

Rose led Chicago with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists when he was helped off the court with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter.

He lost his footing while trying to change direction to get back on defense when Nicolas Batum stole a pass from Joakim Noah and started the other way. It didn't appear there was any contact on the play, but Rose limped across the court and couldn't put any weight on his knee. After the Blazers scored, he came out of the game during a timeout.

The top pick in the 2008 draft, Rose is averaging 15.4 points per game this season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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