CHICAGO _ The last time the Hawks visited Chicago, the Bulls blew a 10-point lead with three minutes to play, Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler excoriated their teammates afterward and Rajon Rondo followed the next day with an incendiary Instagram post questioning the leadership of Wade and Butler.
What a difference a little more than two months make.
Don't look now but the Bulls pulled into a three-way tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 106-104 victory over the Hawks, the last above-.500 team on their schedule. With six games remaining, the Bulls own the tiebreakers over the Heat and Pacers, the teams with which they are tied.
The Bulls have won three straight and four of five and Wade is aiming for a postseason return from his fractured right elbow if the Bulls qualify. Though it seemed far-fetched on that Jan. 25 night, making the playoffs is really in the Bulls' hands now.
"We're not stopping at 7," Rondo said. "We have a nice schedule ahead of us. We take care of what we need to take care of, we're trying to move up even more."
It seemed symbolic that it was the Bulls this time rallying, overcoming a nine-point deficit with 4 minutes, 54 seconds left behind Rondo and a fine performance from Jimmy Butler.
He tied the game off a nifty out-of-bounds play from coach Fred Hoiberg with 32.9 seconds left and, after a Dennis Schroder turnover caused in part by Michael Carter-Williams' pressure, sank the game-winning free throws with 2.1 seconds left after drawing a foul from Kent Bazemore.
Butler scored 25 of his 33 points in the second half without exiting, scoring the Bulls' final nine. Tim Hardaway Jr.'s good look at a game-winning 3-pointer went long.
On the front end of a back-to-back, Butler added eight assists and five rebounds in his 42:32.
"No disrespect to my teammates or anything, but Fred was like, 'Hey Jimmy, you tired?' I was like, 'No, I want to play. I want to be the reason we win,' " Butler said. "So he was looking out for me, telling me we had another one (Sunday). But I told him, 'I'm not worried about (Sunday). I'm worried about the right now.' So whatever they need for me to do I'm going out there and I'm doing it."
Rondo added a season-high 25 points with 11 rebounds and six assists as the Bulls sank 10 or more 3-pointers for a franchise-record sixth straight game. That included two big fourth-quarter 3s from Denzel Valentine, who added 13 points as the Bulls snapped a seven-game skid in this series.
"We knew this game was the biggest of the season," Rondo said. "We had a great win (against the Cavaliers) a couple of days ago but it means nothing if we laid an egg (Saturday)."
The Bulls didn't, again using good ball movement to the tune of 25 assists and spirited defense at critical moments. The Bulls outscored the Hawks 27-20 in the final period.
"It's an important step when you can fight through the adversity," Hoiberg said. "That's a couple of times in a row now we've fought back, haven't put our heads down. We've continued to compete."
Rondo said that dynamic has started in practice.
"We've been very competitive in practice, more than we've been all year, almost a couple of fights," Rondo said. "Me personally, I love it. That's the intensity we need."
Rondo joked _ or maybe not _ that he's always the instigator for the heated practice moments. That's not surprising given that he stood at the epicenter of the storm the last time the Hawks came to town.
The Bulls are in a different head space now.
"We're competing at a high level," Rondo said. "And we hate to lose."
