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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard wasn't exactly remorseful after knocking out Bulls point guard Derrick Rose again with a hard foul.
After knocking Rose to the court and out of the game for the second time in about a month - Rose suffered a bruised right hip after a fall on Feb. 10 -- Howard was asked about Thursday's hit in the Magic's 111-82 victory.
"He went up and he fell," he said. "That's all I remember."
In fact, Howard even sort of blamed Rose for both falls.
"As a big man you never try to hurt anybody coming down the lane," Howard said. "Me and Derrick are cool. I think he's a great player, a great person. You never want to see him get hurt.
I talked to him during the All-Star break and I told him, 'If you come down the lane, always come on two feet. That way you'll be on balance. If you come off one, all it takes is somebody's body to hit you the wrong way and you're gonna fall."
What Howard meant is that when Rose goes up for the shot he should jump off both feet instead of one.
"I hope that he gets better," Howard said of Rose. "I hope there's nothing seriously wrong with him. I never intended to hurt him. It happened."
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy took the defense of his center a bit farther:
"You know, the thing on that play, looking at it, I don't even think Dwight fouled him. I think Rose fouled Dwight. He pushed off.
"But regardless, Derrick goes in there with such unbelievable force that it was the same [as last month]. He's going full speed and he's hitting basically an immovable object and he lands tough. I feel really bad. I hope he's not hurt badly."
im glad they are concerned.