CHICAGO _ The Bulls have reached the point in their resurgence where they're grading victories.
"The important thing with the wins now is learning how to win close games," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Before the seven-game streak, we had a lot of heartbreaking losses that were very close and we didn't finish off games. Seeing the growth in guys like Kris Dunn, who has hit huge shots for us, is big. It has given our guys the confidence to know that they can close out those one-possession games after losing so many of them earlier. That's an important part of the (rebuild) process."
What rebuild process?
OK, so that's a tongue-in-cheek remark to the Bulls' ninth victory in 11 games, a 92-87 come-from-behind triumph over the Knicks on Wednesday night at the United Center. Down by 15 points, the Bulls rallied behind Kris Dunn's 17 points, five assists and five rebounds in an ugly affair in which both teams shot 40.7 percent.
The Bulls pushed ahead for good when Dunn fed Lauri Markkanen with a gorgeous lead pass for a breakaway dunk with 39.2 seconds left after strong defense forced a Courtney Lee miss. The basket marked Markkanen's only second-half points.
Markkanen then stole the ball for a breakaway on which David Nwaba got fouled. But Nwaba missed both free throws with 24.9 seconds left.
Jarrett Jack split two free throws with 8.5 seconds left after drawing a foul on Nikola Mirotic, who scored a season-low four points. But Dunn calmly sank two free throws with 7.8 seconds left and the Knicks botched an inbounds play that led to Enes Kanter attempting a 3-pointer that missed badly.
Justin Holiday tacked on two free throws for the final margin. The Knicks' last field goal came with 4 minutes, 24 seconds left.
"We just kept believing and fighting," Markkanen said.
Kristaps Porzingis' 23 points led the Knicks, who started former Bull Doug McDermott for the first time. McDermott managed just three points on 1 for 6 shooting.
