LOS ANGELES -- Chicago Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer did not play Sunday against the Lakers as he continues to recover from a left calf strain.
Boozer, who has been dealing with the same injury off and on for several weeks now, tweaked the injury while jumping around and trying to warm up before Thursday night's game against the Golden State Warriors.
"It's gotten a lot better," Boozer said before Sunday's game. "There's still a little tug in my calf but getting better. Hopefully [I'll] play Tuesday."
Boozer said he felt a "pop" after re-injuring the calf on Thursday.
"Just getting warmed up, getting ready for the game," he said. "And felt a pop in my calf. I tried to go out and do a layup but I couldn't jump off it so I just needed to let it recover."
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is also hopeful that Boozer will be back on the floor soon.
"I don't want to jump [to conclusions]," Thibodeau said. "But he's feeling better so that's a good sign."
Boozer has had quite the up-and-down week. On Monday, he expressed frustration toward Thibodeau -- through the media -- that he wasn't playing enough down the stretch in games. On Tuesday, he played one of his better games of the season, and played late, in a win over the Phoenix Suns. Then on Thursday, he injured his calf again while warming up.
"It is what it is," Boozer said. "It will take care of itself. It will get better and we still have a lot of season left so I don't want to rush it, come back, and get hurt even worse so [we'll] heal it, get it right, and be ready for the rest of the way."
