Bulls' Gibson says he didn't kick Dellavedova, ejection wasn't warranted

CLEVELAND — The Bulls were already down one big man with Pau Gasol injured. They lost Taj Gibson when he was ejected with 10:25 left in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Game 5.

Essentially, Gibson was given a flagrant 2 foul for kicking at Cleveland guard Matthew Dellavedova. Inside the locker room, Gibson insisted he was not guilty of the crime.

“I understand it gets chippy,” Gibson said. “I pushed off the ground, I tried to get up. He locked me and I tried to get my leg free. It looked like I kicked him, but by no means did I kick him.”

Here's how it started: While Aaron Brooks scored on a driving lay in, Dellavedova tried to box out Gibson and both players fell to the ground, with Gibson on top.

As Gibson got off the floor, Dellavedova squeezed his legs together and Gibson sort of shook his leg free. In the process, though, Gibson pushed Dellavedova's leg, which sent every player on the floor into a mosh pit. The only penalty was a flagrant foul and ejection for Gibson.

“He just leg-locked me,” Gibson said. “It got chippy at the end, of course, they didn't call a foul on either of us. I tried to put my leg back and it looked like I kicked him from the way the force while I was pulling my leg out. I have to deal with whatever the league has to say, but I didn't kick him at all.

“I gave him a look like, 'What are you doing, this is basketball? This (isn't) wrestling.' It got chippy. Both teams kind of swarmed the situation, made it bigger than what it was. Nobody was throwing any punches.”

Shortly after Gibson went to the locker room, the Cavs stretched their lead to 92-75 with 8:44 remaining. The Bulls got as close as 2 points late, but couldn't finish the comeback.

Asked his view of the altercation, Bulls forward Jimmy Butler wasn't ready to give the benefit of the doubt completely.

“I really don't know. I don't think it's a flagrant-2 worthy, I don't, but Taj still can't let that happen,” Butler said. “You've just got to stay cool, walk away and go on to the next play.”

It seems unlikely Gibson will receive any further penalty from this situation.

Gasol feels optimistic:

Pau Gasol missed his second straight game with a left hamstring strain, but felt confident he might be able to return for Thursday's Game 6.

Gasol gave a health update before the Bulls played the Cavaliers on Tuesday for Game 5 of their second-round playoff series.

“I feel it's improving,” Gasol said. “I feel we're doing everything we can to get me on the floor as soon as possible. Today was a good day, I was able to do a little bit of running, (at around) 40 percent. We'll see tomorrow if we can increase it and do more stuff, see how it recovers, reacts and stay positive.”

Taj Gibson started at power forward once again on Tuesday. Gibson got off to a fast start in Game 5, with 8 points in the first quarter.

Gasol, meanwhile, said he's experienced a couple of hamstring injuries before in his career and thinks this one is not as serious.

“It's not a terrible strain,” Gasol said. “I've had two in my career. One I was out for a month, and the other I was out for two and a half weeks. And it's been four days since this one. So I don't anticipate being out that long otherwise I would be pretty much done. Right now we're just staying positive. Everyone is working hard so I can be out there. The sooner the better.

“Tonight's a critical game, but tonight I just can't run still. So hopefully if I'm able to run, if I'm able to play at a certain percentage, above 50 percent, I'll try to give it a go, but we'll see.”

Pelicans coach canned:

On Tuesday afternoon, the New Orleans Pelicans announced head coach Monty Williams would not be retained.

Williams and Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau worked together as Team USA assistants the past two summers. Thibodeau talked about the move before Game 5.

“Disappointed. He's a great friend, a great coach … more importantly, a great person,” Thibodeau said. “So very disappointed.”

The Pelicans made the playoffs twice during Williams' five years on the job, including this season.

Another connection is Thibodeau was offered that position by New Orleans in 2010 before he decided to join the Bulls.