CHARLOTTE—Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver scored 20 points apiece and the Bulls pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 101-84 on Wednesday night, a victory dimmed by Carlos Boozer’s leg injury.Boozer had X-rays on his left ankle that were negative after he left late in the fourth quarter following a scary fall from a flagrant foul by Bobcats center Kwame Brown. Boozer was going in for a layup as the Bulls led by points when Brown swiped and hit him across the chest. Boozer’s left leg bent awkwardly as he hit the floor Boozer eventually got to his feet and limped to the bench. After being examined, it was determined he was unable to take the free throws and was helped to the locker room.Coach Tom Thibodeau said Boozer would be examined on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately known if he would miss any time.Boozer had 10 points and seven rebounds.Korver had 12 points in the final period and Joakim Noah added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls, who won for the 11th time in 13 games and expanded their hold on second place in the Eastern Conference to 2½ games over slumping Miami.Gerald Henderson had 20 points and eight assists for the Bobcats, who played again without Stephen Jackson and Tyrus Thomas in their sixth straight loss.The Bobcats, the only sub-.500 team to beat the Bulls more than once this season, faded late before Brown’s foul sapped a joyous mood for the Bulls.Charlotte knows all about injuries as its season begins to slip away.The Bobcats played a third straight game without their top scorer Jackson (hamstring), and 24th without sixth man Thomas (knee surgery), despite coach Paul Silas declaring both ready to play a day earlier.Backup center Joel Przybilla was then scratched before the game because of increased pain in his surgically repaired right knee. And with guard Matt Carroll (ankle) sidelined, Charlotte had 10 healthy bodies.Still, the Bulls took a while before they wore down Charlotte.With former Bulls star and Bobcats owner Michael Jordan sitting courtside, Henderson did a decent impersonation of his boss on a twisting reverse layup along the baseline in a third quarter that saw Charlotte take a 68-67 lead on another hoop by Henderson.Then Rose went to work with a nifty fadeaway and 3-pointer to give the Bulls a 75-69 lead entering the fourth.Korver had two big 3-pointers in the Bulls dominant fourth quarter. The first made it 84-72 with 7:13 left and the second put the Bulls ahead 92-75 with under five minutes to go.The Bulls shot 51 percent and held an eighth straight opponent to under 90 points as they continue to show the potential to win the East.But slowing down the Bobcats is much easier thanks to injuries and Jordan’s decision to trade former All-Star Gerald Wallace to Portland.After late-game success in an early meeting, Silas started with the shooting guard Henderson guarding Rose. Henderson picked up a foul 18 seconds in.But while Rose didn’t have a huge game on offense, he helped make Charlotte’s D.J. Augustin ineffective at the other end. Charlotte’s point guard was held to six points and three assists.The Bobcats had strange lineups all night. One particularly odd unit of Henderson, Shaun Livingston, Eduardo Najera, D.J. White and Dante Cunningham helped Charlotte build a 40-34 second-quarter lead.

NOTES—Jordan will be in Chicago on Saturday for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Bulls’ first championship. … The Bulls improved to 18-14 on the road, earning one more victory than all of last season. … Cunningham had 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting in his best game since coming over in the Wallace trade.