The Bulls nearly held guard Ben Gordon out of Game 5 against the Celtics on Tuesday night, but allowed him to play through a hamstring strain.

"We talked about it, but this isn't something that in 48 hours he's going to feel that much better," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "It's going to take time. And it can get worse. It's a moderate strain and I know he's in pain. But he'll get more rest [Wednesday]. We'll just monitor it as we go."

Gordon scored 26 points on 6-for-21 shooting in 51 minutes of action during the overtime loss to Boston.

"I didn't feel great because I couldn't accelerate or push off the way I wanted to," Gordon said on Wednesday during practice. "But there's no way I'm not going to play [in Game 6]. I'm going to continue to get treatment and stay off it until then."