Issue of Deng's playing time won't go away for Bulls

Luol Deng doesn't want to hear it. Tom Thibodeau clearly is tired of answering questions about it.

Nevertheless, Deng played in tired fashion during Tuesday night's loss to the Bobcats, a game that capped a wearying stretch of 10 games in 15 days.

"I'm never going to admit to that," Deng said. "This is the NBA and you can't think of fatigue."

Several of his misses from his 2-for-11 night were well short. Deng said he then overcompensated on his missed open 3-pointer with 36.3 seconds left that rimmed long.

Deng also grabbed only one rebound in last Friday night's victory over the Pacers, in part because of chasing Danny Granger around the perimeter but also because of tired legs.