Toronto ? One hour before Wednesday night’s game, Bulls coach Scott Skiles spoke ominously about Kirk Hinrich possibly needing time off to heal his strained left hamstring.

He wasn’t kidding.

A late scratch, Hinrich sat because of injury for the first time in his two seasons in the NBA.

“It wasn’t getting better at all,” Hinrich said. “Every day it was getting harder to get loose and more and more painful. It’s frustrating. The only thing that will make it better is rest.”

Hinrich suffered the injury in the March 16 game at New Jersey and then tweaked it Monday night against Atlanta. He prepared to play Wednesday, altering his pregame routine by riding a stationary bicycle to get loose and then taking the court for shots.

But shortly after taking the court, Hinrich returned to the locker room to get stretched by assistant trainer Marc Boff. Minutes later, word came he would sit.

After the game, Skiles disclosed that he had pulled Hinrich from the morning shootaround as well.

“I didn’t like the way he looked,” Skiles said. “As the day went on, he looked better. But when he went out to do the pregame warmup, it was clear he couldn’t go.”

The Bulls have 16 games left, tied for the second most in the NBA. That means opportunities for rest are minimal.

The Bulls have only two instances with two-day gaps between games, and Skiles said Hinrich wouldn’t practice much the rest of the season.

“If we had just like three or four days for rest, it would help a lot,” Hinrich said. “But we have games every other day or every day.”