Raging Bull Derrick Rose isn’t holding his frustration back any longer. Especially after losing 6 of their last 8 games — one of which took place against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. When approached by reporters after the  108-94 loss, Rose let loose saying that “Everybody has to be on the same page. Until then, we’re going to continue to get our ass kicked.”

When asked who isn’t on the same page, Rose replied, “It’s just the whole team.”

“I think communication is huge,” said the 2011 NBA MVP. “We’re quiet when we’re out there, and it’s leading to them getting easy baskets. We got to give a better effort. It seems like we’re not even competing, and it’s f—ing irritating.”

Despite the teams constant battle with injuries, Rose and coach Tom Thibodeau alike, believe that there are no excuses for not working hard.

We’re midway through the season,” Rose said. “That should be a part of [the discussion]. There’s no excuses. My biggest thing is competing. Playing this game for so long, when you don’t have that edge, we’re going to keep getting our ass whupped.”

Here’s coach Thibs thoughts on the matter:

“We’re not playing well in any aspect of the game, so we’re not giving ourselves a chance to win. Usually if you’re playing great defense and you’re rebounding the ball and keeping your turnovers down, you’re going to be in position to win no matter who you’re playing against, no matter where you’re playing. No matter who’s playing.

But if you don’t do those three things, then you’re not going to be in position to win. We’ve been able to overcome injuries because we’ve been able to do that. Right now we’re not a multiple-effort team, we’re not concentrating, we’re not doing our job. We got to change that. We got to change it.”

–Jamaal Fisher (@jamaalfisher)

[VIA]