CHARLOTTE -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose did not play in his team's 108-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday because of general body soreness.
"Just soreness all over," Rose said before the game. "That's pretty much it: body soreness."
The news of Rose's absence came as a surprise, given that coach Fred Hoiberg said after Monday's shootaround that he would keep the same starters in the lineup.
Rose appeared to be going through his normal routine before the game. But when the lineups were given to media, veteran Kirk Hinrich was starting in Rose's regular place.
"It was tough," Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. "Derrick, he was not moving well at shootaround this morning. That's when we started thinking about it. We got over here, and he wasn't moving much better, so the decision was made to not play him tonight.
"It was our fifth game in seven nights. Derrick just came off of a back-to-back, he's playing really well, we feel, right now with pace. But it's just one of those things -- we made that decision. Hopefully we'll get him back on Wednesday."
This marked the seventh game of the season that Rose has missed. Rose said that, aside from rest, he would use several treatments to try to get back on the floor, and he was "planning on" playing Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks in the Bulls' last game before the All-Star break.
"Recovery stuff, foam rolling, stretching, NomaTech, Tiger Tail, doing all the recovery stuff so that my body's good," he said.
Hoiberg is hopeful Rose will be able to continue the good run he has been on recently.
"I think the big thing with Derrick right now -- he's had his best stretch, he's had his best stretch of the year," Hoiberg said. "And we want to continue to have that, continue to keep that going. So again, the decision was made, and we were a part of that decision.
"It wasn't Derrick saying, 'I'm absolutely not playing.' It was the way he was moving around in shootaround today, and he just wasn't getting any better as the day went on, so that's why that decision was made."
The Bulls were also without guard Jimmy Butler (knee), forward Nikola Mirotic (appendectomy and hematoma removal) and center Joakim Noah, who is out for the season after shoulder surgery.