The Chicago Bulls’ hopes for pulling their season out from its funk began in early December. That’s when they rattled off three straight wins from Dec. 8-11, sparking an eventual seven-game win streak that ended five days before Christmas. After two losses on Dec. 21 and 23, the Bulls have picked up two more wins, including last night’s 92-87 victory against the New York Knicks.

Talk of the Bulls thinking this would be a rebuilding season began before 2017-18 ever got started, and the Bulls did little to dispel that thought with their 3-20 start. However, they’re 9-2 since then and have been buoyed by the play of Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, Lauri Markannen and Kris Dunn. After last night’s win, Dunn told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times that rebuilding is the farthest thing on the Bulls’ minds now:

Asked if he has ever been associated with a fan base that wants to see its team lose, as many Bulls fans do this season, Dunn smiled and shook his head.

“I’ve never heard of that in my life, and that’s why it’s really hard to answer that question,’’ Dunn said. “It’s like, who doesn’t like winning? It’s almost a lose-lose situation by answering that question.

“We’re not going to go out there to lose. We work hard every single day. We’re professionals at the end of the day, people have families. Our job is not to lose on purpose.

“The last few weeks haven’t been an accident. We feel like we can play with anyone.’’

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“Obviously, look at our record since Niko’s been back, but another key is we got David [Nwaba] back at that same time,’’ coach Fred Hoiberg said. “You’ve got two guys out there that understand what you’re trying to do. Two guys that are going to go out there and battle whoever they’re guarding. You look at our defense and where it’s gone since Niko’s been back, since David’s been back, and that’s been a big difference in our team.’’