Rose didn’t sound especially optimistic about his chances of playing.

“I know that it’s going to be sore a little bit, but I know that I don’t want to deal with it during the game, where it gets tight, then it gets irritated,” Rose said. “I think I’m going to come back when I’m ready.”

The 23-year-old reigning MVP has missed eight games this season, including five with turf toe, and he’s not happy about sitting.

“It’s killing me right now,” he said. “Definitely missing these games. Especially these big games. Playing against Boston and all the other teams I didn’t get a chance to play against this year. It’s definitely hurting me, but just try to stay focused, keep my head right and trying to get better.”

Interestingly, Chicago, is 6-2 in the eight games that Rose has missed this season.

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose got some good news regarding his back on Monday, but he’s still not ready to take the court.

Rose has missed the last two games with back spasms, and an MRI last week revealed he has no structural damage.

“He didn’t practice, but he’s feeling better,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Tuesday, adding that the reigning MVP will not play against the Sacramento Kings that night.

Rose saw a back specialist on Monday who confirmed the MRI results that he has a muscular issue and must continue to rest and get therapy. Thibodeau said the news was a relief.

“Yeah, we’re always concerned. It was good news,” he said. “He’s just got to continue to do the things he’s supposed to do.”

The Eastern Conference-leading 23-7 Bulls host the Boston Celtics on Thursday.

This season, the Bulls have won 9 out of 10 games at the United Center.

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose sat out Sunday afternoon’s 95-91 loss against the Boston Celtics due to ongoing back spasms. He plans to see a specialist in Chicago to address the problem on Monday.

Rose, who admitted he has been struggling with back issue for several weeks, will seek out additional treatment options when the team returns to Chicago after the game.

“It was the whole trip,” Rose said. “I just played through it and the more I played through it, it tended to get worse after every game. At the time I was really worried about it, but [I'm] just trying to stay positive and hopefully I’ll be all right.”

“I think he’s maybe a week away,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Legendary Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas said he met Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose last year after a game in Detroit and that Rose contacted him after the Bulls’ season had ended.

Now, Rose is looking for more advice from the two-time Chicago-native NBA champion.

“He was pretty down,” Thomas told ESPNChicago.com by phone on Wednesday. “He asked me ‘How did you do it? How did you win back-to-back championships at this size?’ And my response to him was that once you understand your opponent and know your opponent better than you know yourself, you’ll win.”

Clearly, the reigning MVP looks up to one of the toughest players ever to play in the NBA.

“He’s somebody where in Chicago, you definitely got to look up to, especially being a guard, winning championships in this league,” Rose said. “[I] try to take things out of his game and put them into mine. But [he's] a cool dude. I played against his son in AAU. And he’s from Chicago so I got to look up to him.”

It remains to be seen whether or not Rose will elevate the Bulls to the ultimate level like “Zeke” did in Detroit with the “Bad Boys”.

“[My] back is feeling better,” Rose said. “I should be ready to go tonight; game-time decision. I’m going to see how it is when I go out there and I should be all right.”

With Luol Deng returning to the starting lineup, averaging 20 points in 38 minutes the past two games, the Bulls are hoping Rose’s latest injury will not sideline him as long as his bout with turf toe did.

“It feels a lot better, where I’m able to move. [Monday] night it seemed like it locked up on me. But I’m fine now. Hopefully, I’ll be playing tonight.”

“It’s something that just happened,” he said. “I haven’t had back issues since high school. So I know this will easily go away.

Hopefully for the Eastern Conference-leading 21-6 Bulls, injuries will go away sooner rather than later.

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose left for the locker room in the second quarter of Monday night’s win over New Jersey after re-aggravating a lingering lower back injury.

He did not return to the game in the second half and finished with only four points in 11 minutes of action.

“Right now, I feel all right. Just back spasms, nothing to worry about. [Tuesday] we have a day off, get treatment, get a massage and hopefully I’ll be playing next game,” Rose said afterwards. “It was tight the whole game. It’s just something where I’ve got to get a massage and stretched the right way, and hopefully it’ll be gone.

“I can’t remember when it happened. I was tight a couple of games ago, but tonight was pretty tough and intense,” he continued. “For right now, I’ll be playing next game. It’s nothing like I’m going to be sitting out. I always want to think positive, just try to keep things going our way.”

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is not happy with how the Pacers conducted themselves after handing the Bulls their first home loss of the season last night.

“I’ll never forget how they celebrated just from winning this game,” Rose told reporters. “I can’t wait to play them again.”

The Pacers’ 95-90 win was the Bulls’ first home loss of the season, and it brought Indiana to within 2½ games of the Central Division leaders. It also exacted a small measure of revenge for the Pacers, who lost a hard-fought first-round playoff series to the Bulls last season.

“When you’re walking off the court, you’re in the same corridor,” Brewer, who scored 20 points replacing Luol Deng, said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “And we were walking into our locker room, and you could hear those guys celebrating, cheering, screaming, and that kind of hit home with a lot of guys on our team.

I know it’s a bad injury, and it sounds terrible, but I’ll be fine,” Deng said.

Thibodeau said no surgery is planned, but it’s still an option. The coach described him as “week to week.”

The Duke product injured his wrist in the fourth quarter of the Bulls’ win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.

Deng, who is averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the league-leading Bulls, sat out Monday’s win over the New Jersey Nets.

“He feels good about what the prognosis is,” Thibodeau said.

It’s the same injury — except in the opposite wrist — Deng suffered as a rookie in 2004-05, when he played 61 games and underwent surgery.

The MVP Rose is averaging 20.8 points, 8.7 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game this season.

He is shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 87.7. from the free-throw line.

The last game Rose played was January 14 against Toronto, when he scored 18 points and registered 11 assists in the Bulls’ 77-64 win.