Jan. 10--WASHINGTON -- The Bulls will be without Mike Dunleavy for a fourth straight game Friday night against the Wizards and the veteran forward said he needs an MRI on Saturday for his jammed right ankle, which isn't improving.
"I can't even run on it yet," Dunleavy said.
The Bulls defeated the Wizards here on Dec. 23.
Just after conceding that John Wall is "probably" faster than him, Derrick Rose offered an apt description of the Wizards' guard.
"He's a handful," Rose said.
And yet, Rose solved him in their last matchup. In fact, Rose skipped off the court on one timeout after hitting a big shot as part of his six straight fourth-quarter points en route to a game-high 25 in the Bulls' Dec. 23 road victory.
Wall finished with 18 points and nine assists despite battling foul trouble that night. Rose, in the midst of a six-game slump of 28-for-110 shooting, is looking forward to the rematch.
"Oh yeah, for sure," Rose said. "That's one of the reasons I prepare for these type of games. Who knows? This could be the game that puts me back in my rhythm."
Rose said defensively he will try to guard Wall the way he approaches everyone, by trying to "rattle them and get them on their heels." But Rose understands how difficult that task is.
"With him, the way he's passing the ball this year is great," Rose said. "You got a lot of great players around him, a lot of shooters. So you just got to make sure that he plays in a crowd and make sure that he sees people in front of him so he's not always attacking."He's shooting the ball better, just his confidence level is better. His sense of the NBA game is better. Just maturing into a better pro. But the way that he works and the way he's taking the game right now, you can tell he's trying to get better as a player."Rose must be focused on the matchup. He said he skipped the team's informal tour of the White House Thursday night after arriving here to get treatment and stay off his feet."This is a business trip, and I took it that way," said Rose, who has toured the building before and played pickup basketball with President Barack Obama there. "Don't get me wrong, any visit to the White House is great. But I took this trip as a business trip and just resting, getting off my feet."Wall is equally excited about the matchup."It's fun, a lot of excitement, one of those talented point guards," Wall said. "Everybody knows how great he was before he got injured. I think he's getting more and more comfortable with himself trying to find a rhythm. He did it the way he wanted to and he's still an exciting player to watch play. It's always a fun matchup going against him."
