Bulls notes

Derrick Rose started in Thursday night's opener against the San Antonio Spurs and had no limitations from a medical standpoint. Coach Vinny Del Negro was intent on closely monitoring Rose's minutes but ended up playing the point guard 33 minutes as he works his way back from an ankle injury. ''It's more than I expected, but I just wanted to be out there,'' Rose said of his playing time. ''I really didn't think about the minutes until some other people asked me. I'm happy [Del Negro] put me out there.'' ... Rose played just over six minutes in the first quarter before heading to the bench. He didn't score in the opening quarter but did produce a highlight when he blocked a shot by the Spurs' Richard Jefferson on a fast break two minutes into the game. He played 16 first-half minutes, finishing with nine points on 4-for-9 shooting, three rebounds and two assists. He ended the game with 13 points and seven assists. ... For opening night, the Bulls changed and expanded their pregame introductions. Before the usual animation of Bulls rampaging through downtown en route to the United Center, a video of highlights from last season (to the music of the Black Eyed Peas' ''I Got a Feeling'') was shown on the UC scoreboard. Then, instead of the starters coming from the bench area to the court after being introduced, each entered through the stands from the 100 level, slapping hands with the fans as they came down. ... This was the Spurs' second game. They opened with a 113-96 victory over New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday in San Antonio, a game in which the bench racked up 61 points. ''I think their bench played well,'' Del Negro said. ''With the addition of Jefferson, and [Antonio] McDyess, George Hill,[Roger] Mason and [DeJuan] Blair are coming off the bench. [Michael] Finley looks like he's in stride early, so they have a lot of weapons. They have a different team and a different style they can play at times.''

John Jackson