Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah playing with pain

"The Bulls finally found something they might lead the league in -- cortisone shots.

Both Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah revealed Wednesday they recently received shots to play through, respectively, a strained right rib cage muscle and rotator cuff tendinitis.

That means Kobe Bryant wasn't the only one playing through pain Tuesday night.

"If (player development coach Randy Brown) wasn't back (in the training room), I wasn't going to get the shots," Rose said. "I was just going to play hurt. They had to put an ice pack on my back and freeze and numb my skin. And I still felt it. They lied and told me I was only going to get one. But I felt two pinches.

"Randy told me one of his sob veteran stories about how he had to get at least 100 shots like that during his NBA career. So I was like, 'I can get one.' ... It was very sore (Wednesday) morning."

Rose aggravated his injury while scoring on a fast break against the Lakers. He returned midway through the second quarter after receiving his shots.

Noah has produced consistently even as he quietly has battled the injury in his left shoulder.

"I hurt it a couple of weeks ago," Noah said. "It's sore and I feel like I'm not getting the right extension on my hook shots. But if I can help the team at all, I'm going to be out there.""

I'm all for them both sitting and resting. My Luol Deng will get more scoring touches, Brad Miller gets more playing time (and probably more assists running the half-court offence), and Taj Gibson probably cracks the starting line-up.

Down with Rose and Noah!