MEMPHIS -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose returned Tuesday night in a 108-92 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies after missing the last two games because of a left elbow contusion.
Rose had 12 points and eight assists in 35 minutes of play. It was his first game since last Thursday, when he was able to stay on the court against Houston for just 12 minutes because of the elbow injury.
"I feel good, man," Rose said after the game. "It's going to take time, take rhythm, take games to actually catch a rhythm. So my job is just to come in and not f*** up the game."
Rose initially injured the elbow in a March 28 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He said there is still pain in the elbow but not enough to keep him off the floor.
Also Tuesday, power forward Taj Gibson sat out for the fourth straight game because of issues related to a rib fracture.
"Right now it's just day by day," Hoiberg said before the game. "When he goes up to shoot or if he extends his arms over his head, it grabs on him. And it's just too much pain to try to fight through right now, especially as much impact as Taj takes with getting hit in that area. So it's better. It's better than it was a couple days ago, but still not quite ready."
It remains unclear when backup guard E'Twaun Moore will return as well. He reinjured his hamstring during Sunday's win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
"E'Twaun's still nursing that hamstring," Hoiberg said. "He tweaked it a little bit late in the game the other night, so we'll see how he progresses throughout the day as well.
"It was just late in the game. You saw him reach back and grab it a little bit. He was limping around out there ... and we got him out right away. Just tried to loosen it up this morning. Went through the warmup with the team, just wasn't able to explode off it."
Asked about the possibility of Moore missing more than just Tuesday's game, Hoiberg emphasized that hamstring injuries are "a tricky deal."
"It's obviously what you're pushing off of," he said. "He had the hamstring issue going into last game, last couple games I should say, and fought through it, responded well after the game. It just grabbed on him in the last one, unfortunately. Right now it's a day-by-day thing with E'Twaun. He's been battling pretty much the whole second half of the year. He's been able to fight through a lot of it, but today he just couldn't go."