DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Joakim Noah isn't the only person who has heard the worst Kevin Garnett has to offer.

Derrick Rose is right there with him.

"A lot of trash talking," Rose said Thursday. "I can’t say what words he says, but they’re negative. But he’s an exciting player."

Despite their Chicago and adidas connections, Rose says Garnett doesn't take it easy on him.

"Not at all," Rose said. "That’s what makes it even more fun to win against somebody like that, win against that team. It tells a lot about your team, and it gives your team confidence."

Rose seems to enjoy the challenge of playing against Garnett and playing in front of the usual raucous crowd at TD Garden.

"Their crowd really gets to you, makes you play hard," Rose said. "They’re going to cheer throughout the whole game. But it’s fun when you play there and you can silence their crowd because it says a lot about your team. If you can win there, you can win almost anywhere."

No more slow starts? Over the first month of the season, the Bulls have repeatedly started out the game slow only to crawl back into it late. It's a trend coach Tom Thibodeau knows must end. The first-year head coach believes if his team does a better job of rebounding, some of their problems will be solved. The Bulls were out-rebounded 44-21 by the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

"The big thing is, in particular [Wednesday] night’s game, was the rebounding," Thibodeau said. "If you make them miss and you rebound the ball, it can get us into the open floor where we can attack and get some easy scores. And we want to play with pace. I thought that we didn’t play with a lot of energy. We didn’t play with pace.

"Against a team like Orlando, that’s an excellent defensive team, you have to attack, and you have to try to score before they’re set. And then if they are set, you got to move them and you got to make quick decisions, and we didn’t do that."

Rose said the key is to start playing better defensively.

"It’s just stopping people," he said. "Stopping people and just grinding out throughout the whole game. We have to be this grimy team where we’ll do whatever it takes to win. And in the beginning of games we’re digging a hole for ourselves. Against a good team like you saw [Wednesday] it’s impossible to come back. So we just got to come out harder."

Rose admitted that he was mad and a little embarrassed by the Bulls' performance against the Magic.

"It gives you something to think about," he said. "Knowing that teams are already looking at us as a threat. It’s kind of different, but everybody’s got to adjust to it."

The last word: "I guess I got to bring my pillow on the road trip every time." -- Rose, who had to sit our Friday's game in Denver, on where his neck issues stemmed from. He said he is receiving treatment to correct the issue.