CHICAGO (AP) Chicago Bulls guard Jamal Crawford landed on the back of his head and was taken off the floor on a stretcher Thursday night in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Crawford was moving after he fell, but Bulls trainers put a neck brace on him and taped him to a stretcher before taking him off the court. His teammates watched with concern, and fans gave him a standing ovation.

Quote from the Daily Herald: "We did get word that he's doing fine," teammate Jalen Rose said. "It looked a lot worse than it was and that's a good thing for us.

Back to AP report.

Crawford was guarding former teammate Fred Hoiberg with about 10 minutes to play in the game when Hoiberg faked left and Crawford jumped. Crawford landed on Hoiberg's upper back and tumbled over backward. With his arms behind him, he had little to break his fall and landed on his head, just above his neck.

The crowd gasped, and Crawford immediately winced and began rolling around on the floor. He was still moving as trainers were attending to him, and was on the floor for about 10 minutes before being taken off the court.

This already has been a rough season for Crawford, a former lottery pick. Finally given the starting point guard job, he was benched along with Jalen Rose against New Orleans on Saturday by coach Bill Cartwright.

Crawford made it clear he wasn't happy about the demotion. And though Rose was back in the starting lineup Wednesday, Crawford was still coming off the bench.

Crawford is averaging 14.2 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals a game.