In all honesty, it’s surprising that the game was this close.
- The Bobcats were on the road in the 2nd game of a back to back after having to scratch and claw in last night’s brutal overtime matchup against the Bucks.
- The Bulls out-rebounded the Bobcats 56-34.
- Stephen Jackson was held to only 8 points, and sat out the entire 4th quarter with a painful hamstring.
So how did the Bobcats manage to even be in the game? They managed to make this game interesting by having an absolutely ridiculous 8 minute stretch of defense that took them all the way from a double figure deficit to a 5 point lead. If you love defense, then this stretch was like Jessica Alba and Kim Kardashian pouring melted butter over each other while modeling their new thong bikinis… In other words, it was a thing of absolute panoramic beauty.
With that 5 point lead, Boris Diaw was at the free throw line with 2 shots and an opportunity to push the lead to 7 points. Boris goes 0-2 from the stripe, Derrick Rose puts on his superman cape…
… and the rest unfortunately was history.
The Good
The Bobcats are still in the driver’s seat as far as making it into the playoffs. The Bulls would need to just about win out, while the Bobcats would need a 6 game collapse.
The Bad
Stephen Jackson’s hamstring, finger and other miscellaneous injuries. Here is Rickey B’s take on it.
“I felt like I was running in quicksand. I didn’t want to be in there hurting my team,” Jackson said of asking out of the game. “I felt like it all kind of caught up with me. I couldn’t move.”
Coach Larry Brown said afterward that he’d seriously consider shutting Jackson down if it takes that to get him healthy before the post-season. Jackson said he’d understand that decision, with a caveat:
“If we’re already in,” Jackson said of qualifying for the playoffs. “But I don’t want to miss time (until then.) Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
