NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Hornets rookie Anthony Davis and Charlotte's Byron Mullens had to be separated by teammates and officials after tangling with one another as they made their way from under New Orleans' basket toward half court, and official Bill Kennedy wound up doing a backward somersault into the front row.

Mullens was assessed a flagrant-1 technical foul, while Davis, back after missing 2 1/2 games with a concussion, received a standard technical foul.

Kennedy appeared to be knocked backward by Charlotte's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist -- Davis' former Kentucky teammate -- as players converged to pull the feuding big men apart. Kennedy wound up in the lap of Dennis Lauscha, the president of both the Hornets and NFL's New Orleans Saints. Lauscha was sitting next to Tom Benson, who owns both clubs.