Bulls coach Scott Skiles wants his players to be more aware of what is happening on the court, and will let them play through situations where they might be struggling or looking disorganized, but rather than calling a timeout.

Speaking of how players failed to recognize Luol Deng had post-up opportunities while playing shooting guard, an oversight Skiles described Sunday as "scary," he nevertheless put the onus on players.

"In a more regular-season setting, I would take control of that and make sure that we knew," he said. "But all of that can't fall to me at this stage of development as a team. The guys on the floor have to recognize that."

Perhaps the only positive byproduct of minor injuries to Ben Gordon and Thabo Sefolosha has been the opportunity to play Deng at shooting guard. That's even if his teammates, according to Skiles, have failed twice to recognize that Deng is playing the position.

With post-up opportunities often scarce for this perimeter-based team, Deng is an option Skiles would like to use at times.

"It's a matter of, can we recognize while the game is going on without a timeout that we have a smaller guy on him and run him down there?" Skiles said.