Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng was to sit out the Christmas Day game against the Brooklyn Nets because of a sore Achilles tendon, but guard Kurt Hinrich and forward Jimmy Butler were returning from injuries.

The Bulls hope to have Deng, their leading scorer this season at 19.6 points, back for Saturday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks. He missed practice on Monday and Chicago's past two games.

Hinrich sat out five games with a back injury and Butler was sidelined one game with an ankle injury suffered last Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

DJ Augustin stepped in to fill a void a point guard while Hinrich was out. Augustin had a double-double of 18 points and 10 assists in the Bulls' 100-84 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

"DJ has been terrific," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

The Bulls were riding a two-game winning streak.