Bulls' Robin Lopez, Taj Gibson ejected near end of loss at Charlotte

Chicago's night ended with frustration Friday when 7-foot center Robin Lopez and forward Taj Gibson were ejected from the Bulls' 103-91 loss to the host Charlotte Hornets with 38 seconds left.

Lopez simultaneously elbowed Marvin Williams under the chin and with his other arm made light, incidental contact to Cody Zeller. Replays appeared to show that Zeller overreacted to the contact.

It was to good effect, as Lopez drew a flagrant 2 technical foul for the play.

The NBA will review the play, but Lopez said he doesn't believe he will be suspended for Sunday's Christmas Day matchup against theSan Antonio Spurs. The Bulls have lost eight of their last 11 games.

"I'm expecting to play in the next game," Lopez said. "I thought I put up my forearm ... I didn't think I extended."

Lopez already had drawn a technical foul with 1:37 remaining for arguing another call. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was surprised to see Lopez lose his composure.

"It is uncommon," Hoiberg said. "That's very unlike Robin to lose his cool like that. I'll be interested to go back and look at the film and see what exactly happened."

Gibson's ejection after arguing with officials preceded Lopez's because officials had to review the Lopez foul before confirming it to be a flagrant 2. Gibson earned his first technical from the bench early in the fourth quarter after disagreeing with a foul.

"The first one, I didn't say anything," Gibson said. "I didn't say -- I jumped up, I just said, 'Hey! That's a foul! That's a foul!' Stuff we normally say; he gave me a tech. But it's part of the game."

The second technical, though, drew Gibson's ire. The veteran forward felt that officials let Hornets guard Michael Kidd-Gilchrist get away with kicking his foot out and drawing a foul after Bulls small forward Doug McDermott was called for an offensive foul earlier for the same move.

"They got to get ahold of the game," Gibson said. "They can't just let the game get out of hand like that. Guys are throwing elbows and throwing cheap shots, that's all I said. ... I said, 'Ya'll got to do better. You've been around a long time. We've got to be held accountable, you've got to be held accountable too. Do your job.' It was a rough way to end the game."

Jimmy Butler led the Bulls (14-15) with 26 points, who have lost five of their last six to fall below .500 for the first time this season. Butler has scored at least 20 points in 24 of the team's 29 games this season.

Information from ESPN Bulls reporter Nick Friedell and The Associated Press was used in this report.br/]