Chicago Bulls' John Salmons says he will play with pain rest of season

John Salmons played a team-high 39 minutes, chased Vince Carter for most of three quarters, absorbed a flagrant foul from Devin Harris after a huge fourth-quarter steal and scored 17 points Saturday.

And that's just the physical rundown from his gritty day at the office.

The mental workload included Salmons admitting the strained left groin he's battling will plague him the rest of the season.

"It's not 100 percent, and it's going to be like that the rest of the way," Salmons said. "I have to get it out of my mind. It's going to be there. It's going to hurt. I just have to deal with it."

One way to do so will be to limit practice time and then keep Salmons' minutes high. He averaged 40.4 minutes in March.

"I think it was better for me to stay on the court than sit down because it would have tightened up pretty good," Salmons said.

(chicagotribune.com)