Paul Silas debating with a referee in the loss to Miami.

The Miami Heat won a close game last night in Orlando, in which their Captain, Dwayne Wade, suffered a back injury when fouled by Dwight Howard. It wasn’t certain if he’d play as close as an hour before game time. So what’d he do? Oh, nothing, just post his first triple double since 2006. Naturally.

The Charlotte Bobcats have now played 16 games since Paul Silas took over for the fired Larry Brown as Head Coach. Since that’s equal to one NFL season, and gives players enough time to develop trends, I figured now would be a good time to check in on the progress Coach Silas and company have made. In 28 games, Larry Brown went 9-19. In just 16, Silas has won 10 games to 6 losses. Extrapolate that over 82 games, and Silas, using the same roster, would win 52 games to Brown’s 26. But its more than just the win/loss numbers, startling as they are.

Paul Silas coaching

Well, today’s been an interesting day, hasn’t it? I was in the middle of a nap before heading to work this evening when my phone exploded, right around 4 o’clock. Just Monday I posted on my facebook that “All I want for Christmas is Larry Brown to be fired.” Well, Santa seemed to be in a giving mood this week, because Christmas came early!

The first time the Charlotte Bobcats won a game on national television, they did so behind a strong game from an overweight power forward on his home court. That formula held true for the second time, as Boris Diaw channeled his inner Sean May and led the Bobcats to their first national tv win since December 14, 2006.

Diaw, who had 20 points (9-14 shooting, 2-3 3pa) and 10 rebounds, was the catalyst tonight, but was hardly the only Bobcat to make an impact in front of majority owner Michael Jordan, who was attending his 7th game of the season. Nazr Mohammed chipped in with 15 points and 7 rebounds after playing four minutes combined in the two games against the Knicks this week. Stephen Jackson had 16 points (7-14 fga, 1-3 3pa) and Gerald Wallace, despite a poor shooting night (6-21) managed 21 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. DJ Augustin continued his strong season as a distributor, with 11 assists to just 1 turnover. Shaun Livingston added 10 points off the bench and the Bobcats defeated the banged-up Houston Rockets 99-89 on ESPN2 to move to 6-10 on the year.

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Teej chats with SNY’s TheKnicksBlog.com Radio host Anthony “Rice Balls” Donahue about the upcoming home and home with the Knicks, Raymond Felton and Isaiah Thomas. Follow Anthony at TKB Radio on theknicksblog.com or on twitter @AnthonyMSG.