"Derrick Rose missed his third straight game and fourth overall with a left big toe injury Friday night when the Bulls beat the Cavaliers 114-75, and for the first time, he expressed "a little regret" over returning to average 40 minutes in last weekend's back-to-back games.

Rose, who suffered the injury Jan. 10 when the Timberwolves' Anthony Tolliver drove Rose's foot into the ground during a loose-ball scramble, said the injury is worse than the turf toe that surfaced against the Cavaliers during the 2010 playoffs.

Rose, who also battled turf toe early in his third season, never had missed a game because of a toe injury before this season.

"Knowing that right when it starts feeling good, it can go right back to zero, I have to make the smart decision," Rose said. "I wasn't able to bend my toe in like three years. When this injury happened, I aggravated it and I played on it sooner. It was real bad."

Though Rose continues to say his injury feels like turf toe, the team has called it both a sprain and turf toe. Reporters aren't allowed to talk to team training or medical staff members."