Many causal NBA fans haven’t watched Charlotte play a single game this year.  But they may have heard anecdotally about how the team was blown out by 39 against Miami or by 30 against the Hawks.  And thus they have probably come to the easy, lazy conclusion that this team has played some bad games.  But you know something?  What these ignorant so-called “fans” don’t realize is that our Charlotte Bobcats have played other games, too, games like last night against the Nets…and those games are actually even worse.  How awful was Sunday night’s game?  I would make a prisoner watch it in order to beat a confession out of him. I haven’t watched something that depraved, sick, and twisted since that episode of Whitney.  In fact, when talking about the Bobcats, I’m thinking of replacing the word “watching” with the phrase, “subjecting yourself to,” as in, “Hey, are you subjecting yourself to the Bobcats tonight?”

Sunday night was actually bad to the point of profundity. Through suffering comes enlightenment, and I’m convinced that all of us—in choosing to wat—I mean, subject ourselves to—this team, are not simply expressing our die-hard fandom but responding to a higher calling.  Here’s how: People think of this as a golden age for basketball, with an amazing cast of stars and super-teams.  But the Bobcats are so cover-your-eyes horrifying that maybe the real reason we’re here is to document that it wasn’t all wonderful for the NBA circa-2012.  Bobcats Planet may actually be the NBA’s very own “How the Other Half Lives.” We’re the 99-percenters.   The black people on Mad Men.  After all, Raging Bull and Ordinary People weren’t the only movies released in 1981; so was Make Them Die Slowly.  Thirty years from now they’ll uncover this website, and it will serve as a testimony to those faceless, forgotten, hopeless masses who didn’t live in New York, Chicago, Miami, and LA.

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.

I don’t want to say I’m devastated, but color me disappointed. With a sellout crowd of over 19,200 on hand for the annual Charlotte Bobcats Nascar night, featuring 4-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Ladycat Jordan’s boyfriend Denny Hamlin, I would’ve hoped for a big win and settled for just a win. I mean, with a crazy home record of 18-4 coming in, what else should I expect? And at the end of regulation, it seemed that was what was going to happen. But instead, the Bobcats came out totally flat for overtime and were outscored 14-3 in the period to lose by a final of 106-95, after coming back from a 16 point deficit in regulation.

The game started off rather tepidly, with Charlotte losing each of the first three quarters and entering the 4th down by 10. About the only bright spots up to that point were Nazr Mohammed (12 points/9 rebounds) and Raymond Felton (14/5/4 assists) playing solidly on both ends of the floor. Soon to be named All-Star Gerald Wallace was held scoreless for much of the game, although he did finish with 9 points and 10 rebounds. In the fourth, along with Wallace, DJ Augustin (22/2/1) and DeSagana Diop (6/4/2 Blocks) asserted themselves as key players in the comeback. Diop would’ve had 8 points, but a jumper from about 10 feet out was called off for a shot clock violation. Down 92-90 with 6.8 seconds left, the ‘Cats came out of the timeout and Stephen Jackson (15/5/4) hit a floater from under the basket to send the game into OT. After that, well, lets just say it wasn’t pretty.

If you want to find places to put the blame, there are plenty. The Bobcats missed 6 free throws in 22 attempts, shot just 39.8 percent from the field (including a combined 10-38 from Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson, and Gerald Wallace), and outside of DJ Augustin’s 5-9 3 point shooting, the team was 4 of 18, which comes out at an atrocious 22.2 percent. They had their shots blocked 11 times and were outrebounded by 7. And while it appears that the officials cannot count to three when the Magic have possesion, the Bobcats could have won despite bad officiating – which had Stephen Jackson complaining all night long, including him being assessed with the game’s only technical foul – that allowed Howard the freedom to have dinner and dessert in the lane. They had their chances and let it get away.

Charlotte now starts a six game road trip:
Monday in Denver (facing former Bobcat Malik Allen and G/F Stevie Graham’s brother Joey) – Sportsouth 9:00 ET
Tuesday in Pheonix (facing former Bobcats Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley) -FSCR 9:00 ET
Friday in Golden State (facing former Bobcat Vladi Radmanovic and announcer Dell Curry’s son Stephen) – FSCR 10:30 ET
Saturday in Sacramento (facing former Bobcat and tub of lard Sean May) – Sportsouth 10:00 ET
Monday the first in Portland (facing former Bobcat Juwan Howard) – Sportsouth 10:00 ET
Wednesday the third in Los Angeles against the Lakers (facing former Bobcats Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison) – Sportsouth 10:30 ET

Notes: Tyson Chandler missed the game once again, and while he is supposedly “day-to-day” I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anytime soon….DJ Augustin appeared to regain his confidence for at least the fourth quarter, expecting to make shots instead of hoping….Larry Brown played his centers 46 out of a possible 53 minutes, which is one of the highest amounts in a long time….Brandon Bass, the player many Bobcats fans have been clamoring for in a trade, had a DNP-CD, so don’t expect to see him in a Charlotte uniform….Dwight Howard was the only player with a double-double, collecting 10 points and 20 rebounds….The Bobcats wore special NASCAR themed uniforms, with checkered side panels; Jimmie Johnson recieved a special #4 “Johnson” jersey at halftime in honor of his 4 championships….

Nazr Mohammed is a producer… Wow, who knew?

“Fat Bitch!” is being produced by NBA champion, Charlotte Bobcats Center, and Chicago native Nazr Mohammed, who Watson has known since elementary school, when they lived next door in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood (blocks from President Obama’s house). Autographed sports memorabilia from Mohammed (to be announced later; likely to include apparel and Bulls/Bobcats tickets) will be raffled off at each of the five “Fat Bitch!” shows to benefit organizations dealing with young people and self-esteem. Detailed bios are below.

The Moonball Blog gives their thoughts on how the Bobcats will perform in this upcoming season.

Chandler is the archetypal Brown pivot: Long, defensive oriented, and willing to accept little or no offensive role. Though Charlotte was roundly panned for the Okafor-Chandler swap, if the 26 year old veteran of 8 NBA seasons can stay healthy, Tyson is about to go off anchoring the Bobcat D.

Former Bobcat Sean May likes 1 thing even more than Krispy Kreme glazed donuts… and that thing is Gossip Girl?!?

Will the Bobcats be adding yet another Tarheel? If Rashad McCants has anything to do with it, the answer is yes.

Congratulations Sacramento Kings fans you have just acquired Charlotte Bobcats power forward Sean May.

Kings fans have one of the strongest NBA fan bases on the web ( just witness the awesomeness of Sactown Royalty, Cowbell Kingdom or KingFans.com ) so we felt that it would be the neighborly thing for us to do to pass along some of Sean May’s legacy (from a BobcatsPlanet perspective of course)

OK Kings fans, use these items responsibly:

The Sean May is so fat… thread (18 pages long)

The top 7 Sean May photoshops… Lose weight now, Ask me how

The waive Sean May thread

Miscellaneous Sean May punchlines by amour217

- The minute Sean May arrives in Sacramento, California will fall into the ocean.

- That’s gotta be a photoshop, because a real Sean May basketball card would have to be the size of a space shuttle

- At Sean May’s house, “Draft Party” refers to standing behind Sean after the beans are gone

- Compared to Sean May, Kevin Love is a freakin Somalian

- Oh he’s got pull….gravitational pull

OK Sac fans, enjoy having the round mound of microfracture surgery on your squad. As you can tell from the links above, we’re a caring bunch here, so if you need us at any time during the season for Sean May support,  we’re here for you.

I’m thinking of my Mom yelling from the other side of the kitchen:

“Close the refrigerator door.  If you don’t know what you want then obviously you aren’t hungry!”

This seems to be the thought process over at 333 East Trade these days.  “We just don’t know what we want.  But we want something!” We all thought it was Allen Iverson last week, but we didn’t really want him.  Brandon Bass, Rasheed Wallace, SideShow Bob, all off the table.  Who knows?  I don’t.  I can’t think about it anymore.  But I have to try.

I just read that some teams are waiting to see where the big names fall.  Lamar Odom isn’t coming here.  Carlos Boozer isn’t either.  It’s pretty much accepted that Miami, being Miami (beach, weather, last year’s scoring champion) is going to get one of the “big” names still out there.  Boozer, Odom, AI, or even 2 of them.

There is only one team that has done less so far this year than Charlotte or Miami and that’s Philadelphia.  Philly sort of blew their wad on last year and the year before and maybe the year before that.  You don’t get Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand locked up for the foreseeable future for nothing.

When you look at the team payrolls the Bobcats are at 20.  No where near the Luxury Tax threshold of $69.92 Million. Right now there are 10 teams above and the ‘Cats are in the bottom third.  So, we’re all thinking “Come the heck on!”

I don’t have the answer.  Just pick somebody: ESPN’s list. So far the Bobcats have let 4 guys walk from last year’s roster and added only 2 through the draft.  (Yes, Cartier has been signed by a European team) There is no summer league team this year.  Larry is working with the French National Team.  Jordan is smoking cigars and playing in celebrity golf tournaments.  (Way to finish tied for 17th with Ol’ Vinnie Greenballs there MJ) Rod Higgins is out in Vegas avoiding MJ and Sean May (still HUNGRY!).  Oh and he’s trying to run off the starting PG.  (No matter what anyone says DJ isn’t ready and he isn’t a straight up PG)

Bring in somebody, anybody and do it before we all lose our minds here at BCP.  The East continues to get better and it’s incumbent upon the Bobcats to get in the playoffs this year before everyone really loses interest.  Could you?  Please?