The New Orleans Hornets beat Utah Jazz 88-86. The Hornets' rookie center Anthony Davis -- the No. 1 overall pick in the draft -- however, sustained an injury during the match when he was unintentionally elbowed in the head by fellow rookie Austin Rivers, his teammate.
After the game, the Hornets confirmed that Davis would miss the next game against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday following a mild concussion.
Davis had scored 8 points, all on dunks, 6 rebounds and two blocked shots before he was injured with just 5 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Hornets are also badly missing Eric Gordon, their guard who has been ruled out indefinitely after sustaining an injury to his right knee.
Hornets' coach Monty Williams did not give a definite timeline for Gordon's return, prior to the match on Friday.
"We're still processing information," Williams said. "We haven't talked to any doctors. We certainly haven't talked to our doctors on a day we're getting ready for a game."
In the game, with barely 1.3 seconds left, Greivis Vasquez, the Hornets' point guard, scored the winning basket. Vasquez had 13 points and 10 assists.
"I was just focused and it was a huge shot," Vasquez said. "It was my first huge shot of my NBA career."
Monty Williams added on the game-winning shot: "The angle he had, I can't figure out how that ball went in. I just thanked the Lord and moved on. The play was created for him to go with his right hand. He just made a heck of a play."
In the fourth quarter, the Hornets relied on the combination of Vasquez and Robin Lopez. They converted a 70-67 deficit into a 73-70 lead when Vasquez had two successive assists. Lopez later extended the lead to 81-77 with just 4 minutes left.
Hornets forward Jason Smith said of Vasquez: "He is playing tremendous and he has got his confidence back and we'll keep going back to him. We kept it close and came up with a big win down the stretch.
"The drive by Greivis to win the game, he makes that shot on a consistent basis and that's why we go to him."
Meanwhile, Utah coach Tyrone Corbin, said his team needed to be more focused at the start. "We learned a lesson. We have to be more aggressive at the start of the game and play all 48 minutes. We didn't play our best basketball."
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