New Orleans: After Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis hurt his right shoulder on a hard, awkward fall on an alley-oop dunk, Pau Gasol and the Chicago Bulls pulled away for a 107-72 victory over New Orleans on Saturday night.
Gasol had 20 points and 15 rebounds for Chicago, who snapped a three-game skid. Derrick Rose added 20 points for the Bulls, who went on a 40-11 run after Davis went out.
The dunk that drove Davis from the game was a two-handed jam of Tyreke Evans’ lob. Davis’ body swung like a pendulum as he held the rim, then the 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward fell horizontally as he lost his grip.
Davis stayed in the game briefly before taking himself out with the score tied at 35 and 4:16 left in the first half.
Tony Snell scored 19 points and Jimmy Butler 18 for Chicago.
Evans had 15 points for New Orleans, while Alexis Ajinca scored 10.
With Davis in the locker room, Chicago closed the first half on a 13-4 run that included two 18-foot jumpers by Gasol, Rose’s 3 and Gibson’s putback dunk that made it 48-39.
The Bulls then blew the game open by starting the third quarter on a 27-7 run that included 3s by Snell and Gasol.
Butler’s dunk put Chicago ahead 75-46 with 3:56 left in the period. The Pelicans never got as close as 20 after that and trailed by as many as 36 points in the fourth quarter.
After missing shots often early, the Bulls wound up shooting 51.2 percent (43 of 84), including 10 of 22 from 3-point range. New Orleans shot only 37.2 percent (32 of 86) and were 4 of 17 from deep. Chicago also outrebounded New Orleans 45-38.
Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins was, meanwhile, suspended one game without pay Saturday after head-butting New Orleans point guard Tyreke Evans in a loss Friday, the league announced.
The incident took place only 7:43 into the opening quarter of the Thunder’s 116-113 home loss to the Pelicans.
As a result of the punishment, Perkins will miss Sunday’s game when the Thunder play host to the Los Angeles Clippers and his former Boston coach, Doc Rivers.
Perkins averages 4.0 points and 5.6 rebounds in 49 appearances off the bench for Oklahoma City.
In his 12th NBA campaign, Perkins has career averages of 5.6 points and 6.0 rebounds.
He helped the Boston Celtics capture the 2008 NBA title before being traded to Oklahoma City in 2011 and helping the Thunder to the NBA Finals the following season, when they lost the 2012 crown to Miami.
The Thunder, who struggled with the early season absence of stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook due to injuries, are 25-25 and 10th in the Western Conference, three games behind Phoenix for the eighth and final playoff spot.
