Derrick Rose goes third straight game without free throw attempt

CLEVELAND -- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has not taken a free throw in three straight games.

That's the first time that has happened in his career, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

After failing to get to the line again during Wednesday night's 106-91 Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau expressed his displeasure with the recent turn of events.

"I guess he's got to go harder, I don't know," Thibodeau said after a long pause. "It looks like there's a lot of contact to me. But obviously others don't see it that way."

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Rose has driven 18 times to the paint in this series; nine of those attempts have been in the restricted area.

He is 5-for-18 from the paint and 3-for-9 from the restricted area.

The former MVP didn't want to discuss his lack of free-throw attempts.

"I can't think about that," Rose said. "I don't even want to talk about that. But I'm playing, and if they're not calling it, they're just not calling it. I can't be worried about (that)."

Despite the lack of free-throw attempts, Rose still approached a triple-double, scoring 14 points, dishing 10 assists and pulling down seven rebounds. But he was just 6-for-20 from the field.

Rose's lack of postseason production on just one day of rest continues to be a point of concern for the Bulls.

In games when Rose has had two or more days of rest in these playoffs, Rose is averaging 24.3 points, shooting 48.1 percent from the field, shooting 48.3 percent from beyond the arc and has a 2.5 assist to turnover ratio.

When Rose has just one day of rest, as was the case Wednesday, and will be the case throughout much of this series, Rose is averaging just 14 points a game, shooting 29.9 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from the beyond the arc and has a 1.4 assist to turnover ratio.

Rose wasn't buying into the rest making that much of a difference despite what the numbers say.

"I can't think about that," Rose said. "That's something that I think you all made up or something. But I can't think about that at all. When I play, I try to go out there and play my hardest and that's about it."

Thibodeau didn't seem too outwardly concerned about the trend, either.

"He's still working his way back," Thibodeau said. "And tonight we didn't make shots -- and I want him to trust the pass, he had 10 assists, but the defense and the rebounding was the problem early on. We missed some shots and we didn't take care of the ball in the first quarter. You put that team in the open floor and they get some confidence going, LeBron has a big game, and they start making threes, so we put ourselves in a big hole."