Rose, who had surgery to repair a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on May 12, has been videotaped dunking off each foot, but more casually than he would during a game. A source said that although he has been practicing and scrimmaging hard, he told the Bulls that until he feels “in his mind” he can confidently dunk off his left foot in a game situation, he is not 100 percent mentally ready to return to competition.

The team is not pressuring Rose, the source said, but the Bulls are confident he will return this season and are still hoping for a mid-March return, which would mark 10 months after his surgery. The Bulls play at Golden State on March 15.

The source said the team has been assured by Rose’s doctor that there is no more chance of the former MVP getting injured upon his return than anyone else and that the doctor told the Bulls that physically “he can play now.” Rose is now dealing with the psychological side of trusting his body.

Rose, 24, raised the possibility that he wouldn’t return at all this season during an interview on Feb. 13 after the Bulls lost to the Celtics in Boston, which was the last time Rose spoke publicly.

“I’m feeling good, but like I said, if it’s where it’s taking me a long time and I’m still not feeling right, I don’t mind missing this year,” he said. “I would love to [return]. I would love to. That’s why I approached my rehab and my workout so hard. I’m trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible, but if I have anything lingering on, it’s no point.”

Since that interview, Rose has taken part in 5-on-5 scrimmages, beginning on Feb. 18.

He began sitting on the bench with the team on March 3.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said after practice Friday that there are no new developments with Rose, and that the clearance for Rose to play in a game “hasn’t been finalized yet.”

“He’s doing everything there is to do in practice, so he’s been cleared from that standpoint,” Thibodeau said.

When asked whether Rose would be able to play in a game if he says he is able to, Thibodeau said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We’re just going day by day. Just keep improving.”

“Definitely getting stronger and stronger every day,” guard Nate Robinson said. “Hopefully, he’s right on time and right on schedule. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”

Thibodeau said the decision for Rose to play will be made by several people.

“There’s a lot of people that got to sign [off],” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, he’s the most important piece. But from Jerry [Reinsdorf, Bulls owner] on down, everyone has to sign off on it.”

As far as what Rose is doing in practice, Thibodeau said: “He’s doing everything. He’s participating in every part of practice.”

Thibodeau also said the Bulls are prepared to move on with or without Rose. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.

The perception that Rose wouldn’t return this season was enhanced on Feb. 22, when his brother Reggie Rose told ESPNChicago.com that the Bulls’ lack of activity before the trade deadline would be a “big factor” in whether his brother would return.

“It’s frustrating to see my brother play his heart and soul out for the team and them not put anything around him,” Reggie Rose said at the time.

Derrick Rose assured the Bulls, the source said, that he did not share his brother’s sentiment and issued the following statement: “I have always felt that the Bulls organization’s goals have been the same as mine and that is to bring another championship to this city.”

Bulls officials from Thibodeau to general manager Gar Forman, vice president John Paxson and all the way up to Reinsdorf have said they won’t rush Rose back. Reinsdorf told ESPN Chicago in August 2012 that he didn’t want to make the same mistake he made with Michael Jordan after Jordan broke a bone in his foot during his second season in 1985. Jordan returned and didn’t suffer another injury, but Reinsdorf has said that it was a risk he didn’t want to take with Rose.

The Bulls have told Rose that while they will support whatever decision he makes, they would prefer he return this season, the source said, “and get it under his belt, rather than wonder all summer if he could.”

Rose is considered the franchise cornerstone and signed a five-year contract extension worth more than $94 million in December 2011.

“There are a lot of kids out there that would love to see Derrick Rose come back and play,” Robinson said. “He’s a role model. Everybody looks up to him, including my kids. My son asks every day, ‘Dad, when’s Derrick coming back?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ It’s funny. Derrick’s sitting right next to me on the flight, so when I Skype my son, I take a little peek. He’s like, ‘There he is, let me talk to him.’ I’m like, ‘You can’t talk to him, just let him be.’ But (Rose) is working extremely hard, and that’s one thing I definitely respect about him. He’s very humble and he works extremely hard in the game that he loves.”

The Bulls enter action Friday in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

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The Lakers did not say how long Gasol will be out, but a league source told ESPNLosAngeles.com that an accurate time frame for his return is difficult to assess without further examination, which Gasol will receive when he returns to Los Angeles. The Lakers, though, are bracing for him to be out at least four to six weeks, the source said.

The Lakers are not sure whether Gasol will need surgery, sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com.

“The result of the MRI shows I have a torn fascia of my right foot,” Gasol tweeted. “Tomorrow I’ll fly back to LA to see our team doctors. #AlwaysPositive”

Gasol also tweeted that’s he’s “hoping to recover asap so I can be back with the team and keep fighting until the end of the season. #GoLakers #AlwaysPositive”

Gasol was injured in Tuesday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets.

“I tweaked my fascia in the first half, so I was dealing with quite a bit of soreness in the second half,” Gasol said after the game. “So I couldn’t do certain things.

“I was dealing with it, but that play when I tried to jump off of it and try go block the shot (by Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez), just as I took off, I felt a pop in the bottom of my foot on my fascia and I couldn’t get up. I’m worried about it.”

The Lakers, in Boston to play the Celtics on Thursday, said Gasol will fly back to Los Angeles on Thursday to be examined by the team’s medical staff.

Gasol initially tried to play through the injury that occured with 3:50 left in Tuesday’s game. But after one trip up and down the floor, he asked coach Mike D’Antoni for a sub and went to the locker room with Lakers trainer Gary Vitti.

“It felt kind of OK a little bit putting my weight on it without walking or running, but once I started running, I was limping and it was really sore,” Gasol said Tuesday. “Even if I tried, I couldn’t go.”

Gasol finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the Lakers’ 92-83 win.

The Lakers were granted a disabled player’s exception for Jordan Hill last week after the backup center went out with season-ending hip surgery. The exception will allow the Lakers to spend a little more than half of Hill’s salary, about $1.78 million, in order to sign a free agent or to absorb a player’s contract acquired in a trade.

Despite Gasol’s foot injury, the Lakers are not dead set on using the exception, a team source told ESPNLosAngeles.com, and they are hopeful the situation will prompt Dwight Howard to return and play through his sore right shoulder “sooner than later.”

The Lakers have won three straight after starting off their seven-game road trip with a loss to Phoenix, and six of seven overall. But they will face an uphill battle to finish off the trip without Gasol and potentially Howard. Gasol already has missed 13 games this season because of tendinitis in both knees and a concussion.

“We’ll see what happens,” D’Antoni told the “Mason & Ireland Show” on ESPNLA 710 radio on Wednesday. “Hopefully, Dwight will be back fairly soon, but you approach it like any other game. Guys got to step up.

“We’ll play with Robert Sacre. We’ll play smaller most of the time. We’ll have Metta (World Peace) back [from a one-game suspension]. So, we still have enough pieces to win games. That’s what we have to do.

“We just got to keep winning and give us a chance to get into the playoffs, then hopefully, we’ll have everybody healthy at that point. But all these games are going to be attacked like they’re playoff games and whoever is available is going to have to play well.”

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It’s easy to see why Rivers holds such an opinion after Irving scored 15 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, including several key late baskets, to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 95-90 victory over the Celtics on Tuesday night.

“He has all the numbers to be an All-Star, for sure,” Rivers said. “Whether he makes it or not is another story. … He’s a tough kid, which I don’t think people give him enough credit for.”

The reserves, who are picked by the respective coaches in each conference for the Feb. 17 game in Houston, will be announced Thursday. Irving, who made a strong final case to be on the team, has Rivers’ vote despite the fact the Cavaliers have struggled all season.

“It’s a hard one for me to pick a guy from a team with 11 wins, but he’s just playing so well,” Rivers said.

Cleveland coach Byron Scott also thinks Irving belongs in the game.

“If you look at the point guards in the Eastern Conference, name one that’s having a better season,” he said. “I’ll wait.”

Irving scored 11 points in the final 2:33 on four layups and three free throws to give Cleveland back-to-back wins at home for the first time this season and send Boston to its season-high fourth straight loss.

Irving shot 16 for 24 — setting a career high for field goals made — and fell one point short of his career-best scoring total, set at New York on Dec. 15.

Asked if he was making a statement to be included on the All-Star team, Irving said, “I was just trying to get a win. It was more of a statement game for the Cavaliers.”

Rivers was hoping the Celtics would make a statement, but instead he watched another frustrating loss. The Celtics have dropped four in a row since winning six straight. Rivers blasted his team following Sunday’s 103-88 loss in Detroit, a game which Boston never led. The latest loss dropped Boston to 20-21.

“I believe we should be better than that — and we’re not — so it’s hard,” Rivers said before Tuesday’s game.

Rivers still had a matter of fact attitude following the game.

“You’ve got to make your own breaks, and we’ve got to make ours,” he said.

Rajon Rondo led Boston with 17 points while Kevin Garnett scored 16. Paul Pierce, who scored 40 points in a 103-91 win over the Cavaliers in Boston on Dec. 19, finished with 12 points on 3-for-15 shooting.

“We’ve just got to be better, period,” Garnett said. “We’ve got to try to figure this thing out because it’s not going to change itself. I want it so bad, but I’ve got to find a balance. I’ve got to do better for 48 minutes, man.”

Irving’s layup gave Cleveland an 84-83 lead with 2:33 remaining. He followed with another layup after Rondo’s turnover to put the Cavs up three. Four free throws by Garnett sandwiched around a basket by Alonzo Gee left Cleveland with an 88-87 lead.

After Garnett missed a baseline jumper, Irving dribbled past midcourt and drove to the basket for a three-point lead with 52 seconds remaining.

Following another miss by the Celtics, the Cavaliers called time out. Irving dribbled into the lane and hit a twisting shot while being fouled by Jared Sullinger. He made the free throw to put Cleveland ahead 93-87 with 22.8 seconds left.

After Pierce shot an airball, Irving made two more free throws with 18.2 seconds left to put the game away.

Tristan Thompson added 21 points for the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers acquired three players and a future first-round draft pick from Memphis earlier in the day. Cleveland picked up forward Marreese Speights and guards Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby in exchange for forward Jon Leuer. Speights will help replace Anderson Varejao, who will miss the remainder of the season after developing a blood clot in his right lung. Varejao had had surgery on Jan. 10 to repair a split leg muscle. He was expected to miss two months, but the blood clot was discovered last week and he has been placed on blood thinners.

Irving, who was 7 of 20 from the field in Saturday’s loss to Utah, had a strong start against Boston with 19 points in the first quarter, hitting 8 of 10 from the field.

Cavaliers starting guard C.J. Miles didn’t play because of an illness that has hit several players and a couple of assistant coaches.

Sullinger, who played at Ohio State, scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds for Boston.

The Cavaliers’ new players were expected to arrive in Cleveland on Tuesday night. They must first pass physicals and Scott hopes they will be able to practice Thursday and possibly play Friday against Milwaukee.

Game notes

Bradley, who scored seven points, continues to play with sore ribs. “I feel for Avery because that’s a hard injury to play through,” Rivers said. “It hurts to breathe and it hurts every time you get hit anywhere near your ribs.” Scott has traded text messages with Varejao, who remains hospitalized in the Cleveland Clinic. … The Cavaliers waived G Jeremy Pargo and recalled C Kevin Jones from Canton of the Developmental League.

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Neither Woodson nor Stoudemire termed the latest development a “setback” in Stoudemire’s attempt to return from Oct. 31 left knee surgery.

“He was probably a little sore and that’s probably the reason for (limiting his minutes). So I’ve got to be open-minded to that and do what’s asked. That’s the right thing to do,” Woodson said after practice Wednesday.

The coach added that he “shouldn’t have” played Stoudemire 28 minutes in the Knicks’ 102-96 loss to the Celtics. That was a season-high for Stoudemire, who has played four games since coming back from the debridement procedure.

Stoudemire admitted that he felt “a little bit sore” after the Boston game but, like Woodson, downplayed the notion that he has suffered a setback.

“I feel great,” said Stoudemire, who’s averaging 10 points and 2.3 rebounds in 20 minutes through four games. “I just think we’re taking a precautionary route. Just making sure that everything [continues] to improve. I think that’s about it, really. No setbacks, no re-injury, anything like that. I feel great.”

Stoudemire played between 17 and 21 minutes in his first three games and logged 28 against Boston, when he was on the floor for most of the fourth quarter.

Woodson said Stoudemire would play between 20 and 23 minutes Thursday at Indiana. He will come off the bench for the Knicks (23-11), just as he’s done in the previous four games. Stoudemire’s status for Friday’s game against Chicago is uncertain because it’s the second game of a back-to-back.

“This is a long haul, guys. I’m not going to sit here and jeopardize STAT’s situation,” Woodson said. “I feel good about what we have with [Marcus] Camby and Kurt [Thomas] and if doctors are saying that we have to limit him, then that’s what we have to do.”

Any issue regarding Stoudemire’s knee is treated with caution because he has a history of knee ailments. He had microfracture surgery on his left knee in 2005. He recovered well from that procedure, but the knee is still considered vulnerable. He also has had a procedure on his right knee.

Most teams were scared off by Stoudemire’s history of knee ailments during summer 2010, when he was a free agent. The Knicks signed the former Phoenix Suns player to a five-year, $100 million contract, but the deal was uninsured because of the condition of Stoudemire’s knees.

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