Last night the Bobcats defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 94-87 and extended their win streak to 3 games. In the process Gerald Wallace had a gianourmous game. He dropped 31 points, 14 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 posterization on the Cavs.  Speaking of that posterization that Lebron wound up on the wrong side of, It seems to be twitterverse approved. This is what they had to say about it:

Jay_Chips LeBron got Od’ed on by Gerald Wallace,lol

TEARS_OF_FIRE LeBron got yammed on by Gerald Wallace….WHEW, BUDDY!

GametimeBurnett dammmmmmmmmmmn gerald wallace put lebron on a poster with that dunk!

In_Style_CJ @AyoC_Note Gerald Wallace def boomed on lebron n he hails from….

BobbyBroad Gerald Wallace puts a move on LeBron James and dunks it on him. Will Nike steal that video? Lol

rodimusprime And Gerald Wallace just dunked on LeBron two hands!!!!!

Don’t believe it? see for yourself.

Last night was a good night to be a Bobcats fan.

When you move quicker than your opponent, basically in anything, you’re going to win.  I think that’s the best attempt I’ve ever had at a Sun Tzu quote that I made up on the fly.  I’m sure that might be in one of the Zig Ziglar books my Dad gave me or maybe a Tony Robbins tape he gave me (seriously, I no longer possess a tape deck, younguns, ask Ziggy what a tape is).  This thought came to me as the Bobcats went to the locker room at halftime of the Wednesday Night game versus the Raptors.  The clips are all flying to the basket, dunk, put-back, dunk, steal, dunk, run, lay-up and the Bobcats are up by 6.

As I’ve said many times before, basketball looks complicated and is a specialized game but it’s pretty simple if you take several things as “given.”  You have to take field goal percentage as a given.  The league average is .455 and the top team (Phoenix) is at .492 and the bottom (New Jersey by .02 under the Bobcats) is .401.  Nine percent of an average 80 attempts per game is 7, so the top and bottom of the league are separated by 14 points of %.  That’s shooting efficency, you have to figure defensive efficency as well.

What’s the point other than BigCat number crunching on a quiet Wednesday halftime?  The point is, it’s getting an upper hand in attempts, easier shots, more valued shots (threes) and lowering your opponent in each area.  Easier shots are free throws and they are not always a given, especially for the Bobcats.  There are 2 things going against the ‘Cats here: #1, no respect.  There is no way to get more FT attempts if there is no star, no referee preferred player, no the coach isn’t going to pull that respect and pressure them to call it our way or even to the point of being equal against a more “national” team.  #2 Felton, Wallace, Jackson and Chandler are not great FT% guys.  (collectively .720 career and Jack is at .560 since coming over from GSW).

The three pointers are not going to happen with this roster.  #23 in attempts and #29 in %, you just can’t count on that to work for this team’s offense either.  By the way, these are all cold facts, very objective but they come from research based on a subjective hunch.  Speaking of subjective, what do stats have to do with this:

So, my theory of “high value” shots, easier attempts (each only counts for 1 pt though), holding the opponent and attempts, you have to toss the first 3 (two based on lack of viability and defense is pretty solid (1st in the league at press time)).  The only other option is more attempts.  How do you get more attempts?  Defense and speed.  Pace of game is one part of speed, the other is the fast-break.

If you’re thinking “But BigCat, we learned this in middle school gym class.”  Well I didn’t.  I am having revelations here and I’ve had 2 doses of NyQuil so get off me.  The defense, steals and blocks and altered shots all lead to more attempts.  If the magic 3 are executed correctly, with speed and pace of game, the attempts are easier and should lead to an easy basket.

That’s whats happening against Indiana and Toronto.  How do the Bobcats carry this over to teams not coming off a back-to-back and with someone a little quicker than Tyler Hansborough leading the break?  Remains to be seen but a line-up of Gerald Wallace, Tyson Chandler, Gerald Henderson, Derick Brown, Nazr Mohammed, Raymond Felton, DJ Augustin and Stephen Jackson better find a way.  They’re athletic and smart enough to make it happen.  They won’t gamble too bad on a steal attempt, they can get out on the break.   It’s making it happen against Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, and some of the teams out of the west, that has to become natural.

Set the matchups, out-speed your opponent and finish and this is an easy game to win, grasshopper.

This game’s win matches the Bobcats best initial home record and is the highest point total on the season, and that includes a double OT victory against the Knicks.  This is also the largest margin of victory in the young history of the franchise.  Are things changing in Charlotte?  I sure hope so.  Stay tuned for Friday’s game against the Cavs, I may chunk these stats and theories out the window.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value”  – Thomas Paine

In an 82 game season, their is much time for a team to meet failure. 13 games into this one, and it seems the Bobcats have already found it. Very poor offensive execution, inabilities to control the paint on both ends of the court, living or dying on the jump shot, small ball and the lack of defense against 3 point shooting has all added up. Currently with a 3 – 9 record (in addition a game against the Pacers yet to be played today) many fans are ready to call it quits and lose hope. They take to the message boards and comment sections across the internet, calling for the dismissal of Larry Brown and to trade every player not preforming up to their potential.

I cannot help but be appalled. Now is not the time to be weak. Their is still much work that can be done, that i am confident will be done, yet to some fans it is time to throw in the towl. Every single weakness can be fixed.

Poor offensive execution plagues us.  This can be contributed to the point guards, Felton and DJ.  Both are not playing at the levels they were last year. Both are committing boat loads of turnovers. The question must be asked: what happened over the summer, what has changed? The answer is mentality.  Felton has said it himself: he is over-thinking. The offense is not coming to him naturally this season. He tries to evaluate every play he commits and makes poor decisions. Why this is happening is Felton’s mystery. I am not seeing any solution to this other than Felton ‘snapping out of it’. When he finds his swagger somewhere in down the line, offensive execution will improve. DJ’s problems are much more explainable: a sophomore slump. Lots of great players have them, DJ appears to have fallen victim to it. He is getting the same shots as last year, he is just missing them. This too can only be cured when DJ locates his “swagger” and starts scoring the ball like he used to.

Inabilities to control the paint on both ends of the court has lost us many games this season. To name a few: the Chicago game, the Bucks game, the Orlando game (at the end), and the Sixers game. Vs Chicago, Joakim Noah alone destroyed us grabbing defensive rebounds and getting easy tip in dunks. Against the Bucks, early on Brandon Jennings established the fact he was getting into the lane at will. The Sixers game looked like a AND1 Mixtape tour game at certain points, with dunk after dunk after dunk by Elton Brand, Louis Williams, and Andre Igoudala. We did better against Orlando, but at the end nobody was stopping Dwight Howard or Brandon Bass, and we missed crucial rebounds while Orlando got easy plays. The cause: Tyson Chandler. Emeka Okafor opened the lane up for us on offense. Say what you will about the manner Okafor scored, but Okafor did indeed score. Defenses respected him more than we did, and focused on him. Nobody needs to focus on Tyson Chandler.  Tyson must have converted to a Kwame Brown worshiping religion over the summer, because he now has the same exact brick hands that have made Brown a joke. The phrase “black hole on offense” gets thrown around a lot, but can applies here. Because of this “black hole” we get our shot blocked a lot. Everything gets harder for everyone because of Tyson. We cannot even hope Tyson will change. He sucks, we must accept that. But their is an answer: NAZR MOHAMMED. For some reason LB doesn’t like him, but Nazr can score the ball.  I am not allocating for Nazr to play 48 minutes a game, or even start, but if we put Nazr out their for 25 minutes every night (compared to the 15 Larry is giving him now) and we will all see results.

The fact that we cannot control the paint has lead us to a odd offensive style of small ball and  living or dying on the jump shot. Larry Brown has never, to my knowledge used small ball. But to deal with the fact Tyson Chandler sucks, Larry has used a lineup that involves playing Diaw (or even worse Vlad-Rad) at center, Wallace at power forward, Jackson (Graham or Raja before him) at small forward, Flip or DJ at shooting guard, and Felton at point. This does not work well. It just adds to the already outlined issue of no control of the paint. This group instead takes a lot of jump shots. They also miss most of them. Because they don’t control the paint, they don’t get the offense rebound and dont score. Hopefully this will just stop. Larry needs to play Nazr (i cant say that enough) and put an end to this small ball madness.

Defense is the strong suit of this team. Yet  the lack of defense against 3 point shooting has all added up and cost us losses. Against New York, we had a giant lead that was soiled by the Knicks getting bundles of open 3 point shots. That was a game that should have ended in the 3rd quarter went to overtime.  Against the Nets, we were down most of the game due to the fact they got as many 3 point shots as they wanted. Against Orlando, when they could not get anything going due to our great mid-range denfense, they shot 3s.  Larry Brown must work on this. We cannot allow teams to get 3 points for free. It is unacceptable. But i have faith he will.

I have faith however, that all of our problems will go away with time and with work. It will not be easy, but we have the talent on all ends for the job. Larry Brown made this team.  To fire him now would be a mistake. It would just prove he assembled  this entire team the wrong way. I do not think we have, after all nobody is denying our talent and we all expected this group to make the  playoffs. Nothing good can come of a firing during a season. No new coach can come in and assert their own plans. A team must go through training camp with a coach if they hope to be succesful with that coach’s style. This team was made for Larry Brown and should be coached by him for now. When the offseason comes, then we can evaluate him and every player on the roster. No more tingling with the roster. We brought in Jackson, we have 2 rookies that still have yet to find a place in the offense. This group needs to develop some chemistry.  Now is a time for change on a different scale; not change in faces, change in playing style.   Larry Brown is no stranger to change.  He does not accept failure, and will do what is needed to stop it. We have found failure it is apparent. But please my fellow fans, dont give up. Just allow time and Larry Brown to change the course this team is heading.

I.L.B.I.T.

Every time I think try to think about the last two minutes of the Bobcats/Sixers game last night I get this really bad vomit sensation in the back of my throat… So rather than risk cleaning chunks of last night’s chili out of my keyboard attempting to write up a long recap, I’m going to take the lazy way out and link you to those that have a much stronger digestive system than mine. Enjoy.

Highlights via the magic of Youtube

Queen City Hoops – Bobcats vs 76ers recap by the numbers

19 turnovers in just 88 possessions for the Bobcats? Come on! Besides Gerald’s sloppiness, Raymond Felton lost the ball 3 times in 17 possessions used, and Flip had 3 turns in just 16 possessions.

Bobcats Baseline – Sixers take care of business

Short Endomorphs Who Can’t Shoot Don’t Make Great PGs

Stephen Jackson has been a victim of being typecast. After being involved in the “Malice at the Palace” the news stories seemed to write themselves. Words like “thug”, “clown” and “classless” were thrown around quite liberally. That story is what most of the casual sports fans accepted as fact. That’s not what I saw.

I saw a guy that was a teammate first and a businessman second. Jackson put his paycheck on the line in order to have his team’s back. The majority of the players stayed right in their seats but Jackson went into the crowd and protected his teammate. That told me everything I need to know about Big Shot Jack. He’s a fighter that cares about all the corny stuff they teach in Disney movies. Jackson is about unity, competitive fire, and winning. These things also happen to be the major tenants of Larry Brown’s approach to coaching the Bobcats this season. Can it work? Well, we’ve seen what Brown did with a previously disgruntled Boris Diaw. How about Brown getting through to the enigma that is Rasheed Wallace? I think Brown can reach Jackson.

If you’ve played pick up basketball in any shady area of any city then you understand a guy like Stephen Jackson. Basketball courts are filled with “Captain Jacks”. He hates losing more than he loves winning and it shows in every game he plays. He’s a versatile guy who will never really be a star in the NBA but you will have to respect him. He’s going to fight for every questionable foul call. He’s going to put some onus on teammates to handle their responsibilities. He’s a supportive arm around the shoulder when you’re feeling discouraged and a firm kick in the ass when you’re playing foolishly. Most importantly for this team the nine year veteran cherishes the big play at the end of the game.

The Bobcats have always been shrinking violets late in the game. I love Felton’s heart but he’s not a guy you want taking the last shot. Wallace is a hard worker but he’ll never get the respect from the refs that a player a polished a Stephen will. Contrary to popular belief you can’t always let your game do the talking. Sometimes you have to curse a ref out. Sure we’ve always have a team full of high character nice guys but it’s more than a coincidence that we’ve always finished near last. Jackson can change that attitude. I hope it translates to wins but I’ll settle for playing with heart for now.

Lost in the narrative of how Jackson left Golden State was the fact that he requested to no longer be team captain. While some people will try to spin this as disrespect for the title of captain I see it as the complete opposite. When the losing started to wear Jackson down and he saw that Golden State was no longer interested in winning games Jackson was ready to leave. He asked to no longer be captain and then demanded a trade. He’s not interested in giving up on a season and accepting losing. He’s a fighter.

Go back and think about that footage from the melee in Detroit. The lesson I learned: If you’re willing to fight, Stephen Jackson will always have your back no matter the circumstances. I know that Jackson’s heart will be in the right place I only wonder if the rest of the Bobcats will be willing to follow suit. After watching 20 home games from 10 feet away last year I’m fed up with a team of nice guys.

I’m at the point where they could bring in the roster of Birdy’s team from “Above the Rim” and I’d respect them more than our current players. I want guys like Chandler and Jackson who are willing to grab a jersey or throw a bow in order to get the W. That’s my definition of “playing the right way”. What’s yours?