AUBURN HILLS, MICH. -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is fed up with the way some players in the league are trying to defend him.
Rose, who scored 24 points in the Bulls' 100-94 overtime win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night, was frustrated that he had a bloody dent on the bridge of his nose thanks to Pistons' forward Charlie Villanueva.
With 4:31 left to play in regulation, Rose drove to the rim and was hammered by Villanueva. The veteran swingman was called for a flagrant foul on Rose, held up after a video review by officials, and then was given a technical foul for arguing.
After the game, Rose was still upset with the way the play went down. He argued with Villanueva for a moment before going to the sidelines for treatment from Bulls athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi.
Rose, who has a well-documented fear of needles and said he would not be getting stitches, wore a band-aid over his nose for the rest of the game.
"I was mad," Rose said. "I'm sick and tired of people trying to take cheap shots at me. You got to say something."
Rose was fined $25,000 last month for making comments toward officials after a March 12 game against the New York Knicks.
"I've gotta be the only superstar in the league that's going through what I'm going through right now," Rose said at the time, referring to a lack of foul calls in his favor. "But I can't say too much about it."
This time, he took matters into his own hands. He felt it was time to stand up for himself against Villanueva.
"You got to," Rose said. "He didn't even aim for the ball. At least go for the ball. I felt like he didn't and that's the reason why I got mad a little bit."
Rose isn't sure why he feels like some players go after him.
"I really don't know," he said. "Probably because I don't say anything or whatever, but I'm a man, where in situations like that you have to say something."
For his part, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau was satisfied with the explanation he got regarding the hard foul.
"Look, these guys are great officials," Thibodeau said. "So (the official) said 'it appeared to be worse than it actually was.' That's what he said to me. Usually when they say that, they know they've gotten a pretty good look at it, so I dropped (the complaining) right there."
Rose, who has missed 23 games this year because of various injuries, is averaging 22 points a game this season.
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