Denzel Valentine missed a 3-pointer, and by the time the ball came off the rim, Anthony Davis practically had completed a 40-yard dash.
Davis peeled out, received a baseball pass from DeMarcus Cousins and slammed one down.
Looked easy. Too easy, actually.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg had warned his players before Monday night’s game about Davis’ run-out ability, but it’s tough to replicate that in practice. Or stop it in a game.
Davis and fellow big man Cousins had huge nights for the Pelicans, combining for 78 points and 33 rebounds, and the Pelicans rallied from 18 down in the fourth quarter for a 132-128 victory in double overtime.
Justin Holiday had a chance to win the game in regulation after earning a foul on a 3-point try with 0.3 seconds left. Down by two, he swished the first. He swished the second. But the third rimmed out.
Pelicans 132, Bulls 128 (2OT)
Photos from the Bulls-Pelicans game at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018.
“I thought it was cash,” Holiday said of his third try.
Holiday said he was not nervous: “Absolutely not, I was hyped. I get the opportunity, I don’t miss free throws. I (thought) I’d finish it. … We could talk about things earlier in the game that we did wrong but when you get an opportunity like that, that’s what’s on my mind right now.”
Said Hoiberg: “He made the hard ones; the first is usually the hardest. Look, he made a hell of a play to get fouled. And I thought he was terrific, guarding (brother) Jrue.”
The score after three quarters was this: Bulls 82, Pelicans 81.
Next thing you knew, it was 104-86 Bulls.
Things not only got interesting in the fourth quarter; they also got testy.
By all appearances Jameer Nelson (yes, he’s still in the league) was fouled on a drive-and-dish. It was not called, and the Smoothie King Center crowd howled.
Next time down, Nikola Mirotic pump-faked at the 3-point line and Nelson slammed into him, knocking him down. Nelson immediately helped him up, but it couldn’t save him from receiving a technical foul.
Cousins got a fan ejected with two minutes to play. The fan, wearing a red sweater, was in the front row.
He missed a thrilling finish.
Cousins hit two key free throws in the second overtime and finished with 44 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists over 51 minutes, 31 seconds.
How gargantuan were those numbers? It was the NBA’s first 40-20-10 game since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1972.
Jerian Grant and Robin Lopez led the Bulls with 22 points apiece. Grant had 13 assists and Markkanen had a career-high 17 rebounds to go with 14 points.
Davis entered fourth in the NBA in scoring, at 26.5 per game, down from his career high 28.0 last season. But his efficiency is at an all-time high; he’s shooting a career-best 55.8 percent.
“He is such a versatile front-line player,” Hoiberg said of the Chicago native. “He gets out in transition for easy baskets, so you have to try to limit those.
“The way his game has evolved is his ability to shoot from the outside, not just the mid-range. Shooting 3s. He’s such a tough cover because he can hurt you from any spot on the floor.”
Markkanen found that out first-hand as Davis abused him down the stretch in regulation, scoring on a slam and then laying home a lob pass. Davis fouled out in overtime after a 34-point, nine-rebound night.