2012 NBA power rankings: Bulls move up 4 spots

The Chicago Bulls went 2-1 last week, prompting a jump in the SB Nation NBA power rankings released Monday.

The Bulls moved from No. 14 to No. 10 with their performance. The team had wins against the Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Bulls' only loss came against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Here's what SB Nation's Seth Rosenthal had to say about the Bulls this week:

That collapse against the Bucks briefly interrupted what has otherwise been a bit of a defensive reawakening for Chicago. Tom Thibodeau's gotten some nice contributions off the bench, in part because he's enabling them with a slightly lengthier rotation over the last couple games.

The Bulls were helped by the fall of the Boston Celtics (No. 10 to No. 13), the Los Angeles Lakers (No. 9 to No. 15), and Denver Nuggets (No. 12 to No. 16).

Chicago has been powered by Luol Deng, who is averaging a team-high 18 points per game and seven rebounds. Richard Hamilton, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah are each averaging 13 points per game.

Chicago has a busy week coming up. The Bulls will play the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers on back-to-back nights on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then they'll move on to play the Detroit Pistons on Friday and the New York Knicks on Saturday.