Just when things were looking up for Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, it happened again.
With the Bulls locked in a tight contest with their rival Indiana Pacers and their point guard in the midst of perhaps his best game of the season, Rose left in the fourth quarter Monday night and did not return, diagnosed with a sprained ankle.
After the game -- a 96-95 Bulls win in Chicago -- Rose sounded like this injury would not be as severe as some of the others which have plagued his career in recent years.
"My ankle is a little bit sore, but I'm just happy nothing's tore or broken," Rose told the media after the game. "I'll be all right."
According to ESPN, Rose added, "All of it's positive. For what I went through and all I've been through, just me playing and feeling all right after the game.”
It appeared Rose suffered the injury when he rolled his ankle trying to avoid going out of bounds when his feet tangled up with one another.
In 33 minutes Monday, Rose had 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting with six assists and two rebounds. Rose has played in every game this season, but is doing so while wearing a mask and seeing double vision because of an elbow to the eye suffered in the first practice of camp.
Since tearing his ACL in a playoff game in 2012, the 2011 NBA MVP has missed all of the 2012-13 season as well as 103 games over the following two seasons.
According to ESPN, Rose isn't even ruling out playing in the Bulls' next game, Wednesday at Phoenix.
"Who knows?" he said. "Right now, I'm able to walk on it. That's a good thing."
And on the docket after the Suns? A Friday night date with the unbeaten Warriors in Northern California.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report
