A handful of victories and suddenly there's hope again in manic Bulls Nation.

Winners of eight of their last nine, Scott Skiles and the boys are starting to play some NBA-caliber basketball. Of course, and not to be that buzz-killing sober guy at the New Year's Eve party, but, above all else, the driving force behind the Bulls' winning ways has been – drum roll, please – the competition.

On the heels of an ugly, ugly circus trip, the Bulls are in the midst of a much-needed December stroll down Easy Street, which, in this case, is actually West Madison Street. Crummy team (Knicks) after crummy team (Celtics) after crummy team (76ers) has made its way to the United Center to receive a sound beating.

The 11-10 Bulls are now one of four Eastern Conference teams above .500. How pathetic is that? Out west, there are eight such teams. Clearly the Mighty Mississippi is separating the men from the boys. Going on the road to play the Mavericks, Rockets, Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets the first month of the season is a tough way to make a living. Just ask Scott Skiles, whose hair-thinning went into overdrive out west.

A win or two against top-flight Western Conference competition would've been nice, but given the opponents and all the new faces this season, it never figured to be a very successful trip. In other words, the situation was never as dire as local talk radio shows would have had you believe. Plenty of teams would've come home from that trip with nothing but a fistful of coal.

It's incumbent upon a team with playoff aspirations to, first and foremost, get wins against lesser squads. So give the Bulls credit – they're beating the teams they should beat. Nothing wrong with that. It's a tried-and-true formula for getting into the post-season.

For a team thinking bigger, though...for a team thought to be in the mix for the conference crown, the Bulls will have to slay a few giants somewhere down the road. Early on, they weren't ready for that. Next time around, perhaps it'll be a different story.

At the moment, however, that's immaterial. The Bulls are winning, and they're looking pretty good doing it. That's the funny thing about winning: no matter the competition, it breeds confidence like nothing else.

Even if the Bulls' recent victories have come against Eastern Conference also-rans, the dangerous self-doubt that seemed to be creeping in after that rough circus trip has melted away.

The once-3-9 Bulls, who some said couldn't score, have been racking up points at a heart-pounding rate (104 per game in their last nine). They currently have the top scoring differential in the Eastern Conference (+4/game), good for fifth best in the NBA. (The defense is still underperforming, something masked by the recent offensive outbursts. Eventually, though, the D will have to tighten up if the Bulls hope to play deep into the post-season.)

During their recent run, the Bulls' starting forward tandem of Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni has taken pressure off Chicago's smallish guards by becoming go-to scoring options to the tune of 38 points a night over the past nine contests. Deng, in particular, with his newfound affinity for the rim, is looking like an All-Star, if not this year, next.

An outgrowth of Deng and Nocioni's emergence is that Ben Gordon is no longer being asked to carry the weight of the offense. On some nights, he does; others, he doesn't. But no matter, coming off the bench, Gordon's not going it alone these days. Not coincidentally, his scoring and shooting percentage are both going up. And the scrutiny's going down.

The other Ben – the one who drummed up all that media attention with a simple headband – is gradually finding his rebounding rhythm and even getting some decent touches in the half court. That makes him happy, which makes the Bulls happy, which makes the Bulls better.

The starting backcourt of Kirk Hinrich and Chris Duhon, meanwhile, is helping stake the Bulls to some early leads. With Gordon coming off the bench early on, Skiles has a strong three-guard rotation in his arsenal. Hinrich's scoring is down a little this season, but, like Gordon, he's not being asked to do as much as in seasons past. With Gordon, Duhon and occasionally Sefolosha able to spell Hinrich at the point, Kirk no longer has to play 40 minutes a night for the Bulls to win.

Given the comfortable rhythm the Bulls have found and the soft-as-butter schedule ahead, this team could very well be 19-12 or thereabouts when the calendar flips – right around where you'd expect them to be.

And that after all the painful November hand-wringing.

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