The Charlotte Bobcats defeated the New York Knicks Saturday night behind an ATD (almost triple-double) by Gerald Wallace (23 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists ). On a side note the Bobcats have to hold some sort of record for “almost triple doubles”. Gerald has been close several times this season, Raymond Felton had a few ATDs a couple of weeks back, Boris Diaw has been close multiple times since he was traded to the Bobcats this season. Its hard to believe that in this franchise’s history we have never had one. The closest that we have probably ever been to one was 2 years ago against the Knicks in Madison Sqaure Garden when Emeka had a 10 block shot night, double figure scoring, but only 9 rebounds. It doesn’t get any closer than that one.

Emeka Okafor had a solid night finishing up with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Boris Diaw was his usual Boris, he finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists but 4 turnovers. Raymond Felton struggled tremendously. He missed shot after shot after shot after… wel, you get the point. He finished with 6 points on 3-17 shooting, 6 assists and 6 turnovers, It was rough game for Ray. Fortunately for us DJ Augustin was able to pick up the slack with 19 points and 4 assists on 8-9 shootng in just 25 minutes of game action. If we could somehow implant DJ’s shot into Ray, we would have one hell of a point guard. Someone get the geneticists cracking on that.

Alexis Ajinca has been down in the NBDL for a little less than 3 weeks now, lets take a look at how he is has been doing.

March 13th versus the Reno Bighorns -22 minutes, 6-11 from the field, 12 points, 6 rebounds, 0 blocks, 4 personal fouls

March 14th versus the Utah Flash – 17 minutes, 2-7 from the field, 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 6 personal fouls

March 17th versus the Los Angeles Defenders – 29 minutes, 8-12 from the field, 18 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5 personal fouls

March 18th versus the Anaheim Arsenel (coached by this dude) – 18 minutes, 4-6 from the field, 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 personal foul, 1 blocked shot

March 21st versus the Bakersfield Jam – 14 minutes, 3-7 from the field, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 personal fouls, 1 blocked shot

The rate that he picked up fouls in his first three games was just crazy (15 fouls in 68 minutes of play), but that’s improved in his last two games. He has had some highs like his 18 pt/12 reb game against the Defenders and he has had some lows like his game against the Flash where he fouled out in 17 minutes after going just 2-7 from the field. He has shown some flashes on the offense end, but has still struggled defensively. Case and point the video below:

In this snippet you can see a nasty slam by Ajinca at the 28 second mark, but unfortunately on the defensive end he allows himself to be dunked on hard… twice.

Right now I don’t quite have the stomach to give a full recap of the Bobcats / Pacers game last night. Every time I think back to the second half performance, retching ensues. For Bobcats fans, last night’s 3rd quarter was possibly the most hideous imagery captured to video since this or maybe even this.

With that being said, I will leave last night’s recaps to those with a better stomach than me

Rick Bonnell – Bobcats take two steps back

Rufus on Fire – Bobcats crushed by Pacers just as schedule is about to get tougher

Bobcats Baseline – Baseline observations Bobcats -vs- Pacers

Indy Cornrows – Pacers 108, Bobcats 83 : Jacked ‘Em up good

They say that any win is a good win. I guess that I’ll have to accept that but last night’s win against the Sacramento Kings was a tough one to experience. The first quarter was fun, we built up a nice 33-25 lead and the Kings were offering little if any resistance. Then it got weird, Rashad McCants had a Tarheel flashback and started nailing everything from the perimeter, The Bobcats started turning the ball over like Jake Delhomme in the first round of an NFC playoff game (yes, I’m still bitter about that).

 Worst of all towards the end of the 2nd quarter, Gerald Wallace hits the floor with what looks like a seriously damaged knee. When I first saw it, the first thing that popped into my mind was ‘ACL’. Amazingly, Gerald refused to go to the hospital for an MRI, went against the doctor’s recommendations and returned to the game at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, he proceeded to drop 14 points and 5 rebounds on the Kings in the 2nd half on a knee that he said was basically numb. That my friends, is hardcore.

The fourth quarter was a little easier to watch, we managed to stretch the lead and keep it comfortably in double digits. There was even a Sean May sighting before we closed out the game with a 104-88 win. This win has us tied for 9th with the Milwaukee Bucks, 1.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls with 14 games left. We can do this.

Raptors/Bobcats Preview

Three straight losses all against the West?  This isn’t the Bobcats of the last 2 weeks!  Ok, I can understand San Antonio and Houston but Minnesota?  You realize they woke up Kevin McHale to coach this game?