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It’s small ball like it or not for the Bulls perhaps for some time.

“When you struggle with interior defense from the start and then lose two of your most athletic big guys it puts even more pressure on you,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said before the game. “You try to be creative, get a good start have energy and play defense. We’re not as deep and don’t have as much length, so we have to execute and try to keep them out of the paint.”

That’s because both Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas were out, Thomas still with the after effects of a concussion and Gooden with an ankle sprain from Friday in Boston.

Del Negro said Gooden could be out “maybe a week or 10 days. You never know how an ankle will respond. There’s swelling in there. It’s obviously a big loss for us.”

Del Negro said Thomas remains day to day and will see the doctors again after Saturday’s game. Del Negro said if Thomas symptoms of fatigue and headaches begin to recede, he could practice in the next few days, though Thomas said he still isn’t feeling very good.

Del Negro, who worked in Phoenix in personnel and helped draft for their small ball side, said it takes some time to develop that kind of team and game and he didn’t anticipate a wide open guard attack and was still starting Aaron Gray with Andres Nocioni getting another center, this time Mehmet Okur.

It meant additional time again for Thabo Sefolosha.