By Richard Kagan

The Chicago Bulls won this game, and it wasn’t so long ago, that a win, was something to be coveted.  The Bulls have won their last nine out of eleven games and they are turning the mojo of this team.  The Bulls won 82-87 in a close game throughout against the New York Knicks who were 2-11 on the road coming into the game.

Wednesday night, it was Kevin Dunn’s 17 points and steady work on the court, with five assists and five rebounds that leaped out from the Bulls scorecard.  Other nights it’s been Nikola Mirotic, who has been hot as a July Firecracker.

The Knicks have had a very hard time winning on the road. And, Knicks’ media types thought this could be a winnable game. Not when you score 14 points and get outscored 21-14 in the pivotal fourth quarter.  The Knicks didn’t score but one point in over four minutes of action and that doomed them, especially coming in crunch time.

Kristaps Porzingis poured in 23 points for the Knicks but it wasn’t enough. The Bulls had tenacity, mental toughness, and played excellent defense down the stretch to take this game from the Knicks.

The Bulls (12-22) are not the laughingstock of the League any longer.  No one seems to know what’s happening with the Bulls –even its star player Zach LaVine has been sidelined and will start to play in early January. Who knows if he’ll fit in or if his surgically repaired knee can take the rigors of the NBA?

No one knows and yet that is a noticeable sense of relief, that this team can play with some good NBA teams. The Bulls almost upset the Cleveland Cavs the other night. They had their hats handed to them by the Boston Celtics and Kryie Irving but then came back and defeated the upstart Milwaukee Bucks with the Greek Freak.

The Bulls roster will be turned over as the season progresses. The team, management says, ‘Is on a timeline,” whatever that means.  Chicago is in a rebuild and this one is going to be interesting to watch.