Dec. 11--Who was that unmasked man?
It was Derrick Rose as the guard shed the mask he had worn all season to protect his healing left eye during the second half of the Chicago Bulls' 83-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night at the United Center.
Rose said he was cleared by doctors three days ago to lose the mask that he had worn during games after having surgery in training camp to repair the orbital bone in his left eye. Rose re-entered Thursday's game in the third quarter and inadvertently left the mask on the bench.
"When I went out there the play had started (and) I forgot to put it on and I said, 'you know what, I'm just going to leave it on the side' and it ended up working out for me," Rose said.
With the mask, Rose was held scoreless in the first half. Without it, the veteran exploded offensively and scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bulls snap a three-game losing skid.
Rose said he wasn't worried about re-injuring the eye but, "I was shooting a lot of floaters. I didn't want to go to the lane that hard. They went down (Thursday night)."
Getting to the point of playing without the mask is "just the healing process," Rose said. "Knowing it's safe enough that if I do get hit in it I don't think anything major would come out of it. I just know they gave me the word and I was able to take it off and play."
Rose said he is still having issues with his vision.
"It's still not there," he said. "I don't want to put a percentage on it."
As for the mask, Rose said it might not yet be retired.
"The next game ... I may have it on, I may have it off," he said. "Who knows?"
