Noah defends Rose after missed practice: 'I'm not worried about him'

Derrick Rose missed a team practice Wednesday and responded with a lackluster game in an ugly loss to the Detroit Pistons. 

Rose scored eight points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field and had two assists, while turning the ball over six times in a 100-91 defeat. The Bulls turned the ball over 20 times, and hold just a half-game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers - who demolished the Washington Wizards on Friday - in the Central Division.  

Rose spoke to his teammates sometime between Wednesday and Friday's loss about missing practice, which was due to travel issues. 

"Being one of the leaders, for anyone to miss, I wouldn't want it to be me," Rose said, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN. "It hurt. I apologized to the guys and that was it."

But while Rose appeared to understand that missing practice isn't a good look, he didn't grasp why outsiders would have issue with it. 

"Not at all," Rose said, while declaring it the first non-injury practice he has ever missed. "We're over .500, we got another game tomorrow, so we got to put this performance behind (us)."

Joakim Noah was quick to come to Rose's defense, similar to earlier in the season when the point guard was being questioned for sitting out games due to ongoing leg injuries. 

"These are things - this has nothing to do with - the public doesn't need to know about that," Noah said of Rose's apology. "That's internal stuff, so those are things we would address as a team. Those aren't things that we need to address to you guys. ... I'm not worried about him, I'm not worried about Derrick. I'm not worried about Derrick because I know when shit hits the fan, he'll be ready."

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau wouldn't elaborate on if Rose received any discipline and said the team has elected to handle the situation internally. 

"Obviously, we want a commitment made by everybody to the team," he said. "Any time there's a break like that, you're mindful of the circumstances and you got to give yourself plenty of time so if something does go awry you can still get back in time. So it didn't happen, hopefully he learned from it and we all can learn from it.

"But the point is you can't put yourself in that position. So we'll deal with it, we dealt with it, move forward."

Rose and the Bulls will have to have a short memory, as they're right back at it Saturday against the Western Conference playoff-hopeful Phoenix Suns.