For the first time this season, the Chicago Bulls have won three games in a row.

In fact, Friday’s last-second road victory over the New York Knicks, which came by a score of 118-117, marks the first time the Bulls have rattled off three consecutive wins since February.

So, yes, even if the result only moves the Bulls to 14-18 on the season and a half-game out of the final Eastern Conference play-in spot, there is much to like about where this team is currently trending.

Here are 10 observations:

1. The bottom line of this one is the Bulls’ star players — Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević — played like it on Friday.

LaVine set the tone from the jump with 12 first-quarter points and maintained his efficiency throughout the evening, finishing with a team-high 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting, 4-for-9 from 3-point range. 

DeRozan added 25 points, handed out 10 assists and played hero in the closing seconds, stroking a midrange jumper through landing-space contact by Quentin Grimes that put the Bulls ahead by one with 0.4 seconds to play.

And Vučević, while quiet down the stretch and party to a handful of Mitchell Robinson offensive rebounds, logged his 15th double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and also notched his fourth consecutive game with multiple 3-pointers by going 3-for-7 from that distance.

This trio’s inconsistent on-court synergy and tone-setting ability has been a theme of the Bulls’ swoons this season. But…