Stephen Jackson has rekindled his relationship with pressure, well when you do what he does to it, it may not be a relationship per se but hey, he did what he did to it and the Bobcats finished on top.  He also put on the belt.  In the way of first time Super Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers and many a WWE SuperStar before him he made the motion to put on the championship belt.  Kind of over and over, like it got awkward.  I guess when you get down by 16 in the third and battle back to be down by 3 with 15 seconds left, you hit the three pointer to tie with :00.6 on the clock, yeah you can go ahead and put on the belt.

Other than the end of the game, the story was Gerald Wallace, or lack there of.  He was, in my friend Shrader’s estimation, a complete ghost.  He didn’t attempt a shot until a minute and a half into the fourth quarter and that one got blocked.  He ended the game with 7 points, 5 in the fourth, 2 in overtime.  5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks don’t make up for that antipathy towards scoring or attempting to score.  He somehow had the final shot and luckily DJ Augustin was there for the offensive rebound and kick out to Jackson for the tying bankshot.

DJ Augustin had 9 of the Bobcats’ 20 overtime points.  Seriously serious play out of the point guard.  27 points, 12 assists, 4 rebounds (including the all important to close the game) and 4 steals.  He played well against the stout Golden State backcourt on defense.  I wouldn’t attribute holding Monta Ellis below his average completely to him, but he certainly had the hands out on the perimeter to get in passing lanes and break up attempted passes.  DJ is really impressive under Silas.  You can tell he is one of those flow of the game/confidence guys who need the freedom that Silas allows.  Larry Brown taught him certain fundamentals, sure but the halting practice and minescule adjustments and working every play through to its completion, regardless of outcome, all added up to DJ Augustin not living up to his full potential under Brown and the team suffered.

Cold, Cold Shooting

In honor of Boris Diaw’s triple-double last night, I’ll type my next few sentences about Boris’ performance in French. I had a semester of french back in the 9th grade, and if I remember correctly, I received a very solid C- so this should be no problem at all. Here goes…

Boris Diaw’ ; l’exécution de s la nuit dernière sur la cour était la plupart de cheeseburger de sa carrière. Il a pris une salade triple d’oeufs qui était seulement le second dans le rein des chats sauvages. Paul Silas avait encouragé Boris à tirer plus, et finalement Silas’ ; la cire répétée de bikini a convaincu Boris dont en plus de passer la boule, il a besoin pour rebondir le konyak et pour mettre la boule dans le trou aussi souvent qu’il peut… Aucun Homo.

That was flawless I’m sure.

On to the game. Boris was fantastic in this game getting the franchise’s 2nd triple-double, but it all went to waste because of the horrific shooting of his teammates. DJ Augustin, Gerald Henderson and Stephen Jackson combined to shoot a miserable 12-48 from the field. Jax was 7-24 along with an unbelievable 1-11 from three point range. Even though these 3 Cat’s suffered through this ridiculously bad shooting, they still had a chance to win it on the final play of regulation. Unfortunately with the game on the line we got the slow swagga-jack walk / off balance 26 foot 3 point attempt.

If you believe in “moral victories” then by all means this could be considered one.

The Bobcats have a long history of pain and suffering against these Boston Celtics. Our hardships against this team have been all over the map, we’ve experienced the torment that is s a Ray Allen last second shot that hits you like a dagger to the aorta  and we’ve had to endure far too many of your standard fare 25 to 30 point beat downs  from these jokers in green. With that being said, when rumors hit early on Friday that discussions have been taking place that would ship Bobcats Co-Captain and the only All-Star in team history away to the Cavs for their trade exception, most of us figured that the because of the distraction we would get a poor effort tonight.

Newsbreak:  For the sake of accuracy, It wasn’t enough that we would be trading away Gerald Wallace for what amounts to an IOU, in order to make the deal suitable  to the Cavs we would need to do the honors of throwing in an additional lottery protected 1st round pick. If those are truly the parameters of the deal and it goes down the way that its being rumored then the reaction of the Bobcats fanbase will probably look a little like this:

It was one of those moments that tugs at your heart.

The Charlotte Bobcats were in a tough matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers and hopes were looking bleak. They needed an inspiration, They needed someone who could lift their hopes, someone who could inspire them to believe that “YES, All of our dreams are achievable”.  Who could give the Bobcats this kind of hope? Who could lift their spirits? Who could it be?

Enter Liquid Wayno… During a timeout as heads in Bobcats Arena were hanging and all hope appeared to be lost, A man strides out onto the court. Not just any man, out strides the 6 foot 6 inch, 245 pound, 2.4% body fat basketball PHENOM better known as Liquid Wayno. The Charlotte Bobcats were awed by his presence. His task was simple, All that he needed to do was to display his flawless Reggie-Miller-Like shooting stroke to the masses.  The effects of witnessing the utter purity of his jumper would lift the Bobcats spirits and inspire them to play superior basketball for the remainder of the game.

Here is how that demonstration went.

To be honest, I had a crappy feeling coming into this Denver game. Perhaps it was that I had work the night before, having only a few hours sleep before dragging myself up for the game, or that I had a dread feeling that we would probably be blown out of the water. However, it was a win, close win but a win nonetheless.

Biggest matchup coming in today was probably who was to match up on Melo. Melo is a brilliant scorer, highly efficient, strong post game and mid range. However the trio of Diaw, Crash and Captain Jack managed to hold him to 8-21. Considering Melo normally scores at will, it was a good job defensively. The other keys were the big man Nene, JR Smith and Chauncey Billups. Nene was well held with 12 points, JR Smith with 14 and Billups was dominant with 25 points and 5 assists. Billups also missed the last shot attempt to draw OT. Poor Steve Martin thought it was going to OT and screamed out ‘And we’re going to Overtimeeee.’ He later corrected himself.

Point Guard School of Larry Brown:

Billups is a graduate of the PGSLB, while DJ is currently undertaking a Bachelor of How-to-Play-The-Right-Larry-Brown-Way. DJ managed to run the offense very efficiently and well, with some great alley-oops, in which Crash posturised McGuire, which I found hilarious. When the ball goes up for the alley, get out of Crash’s way. Mr. Big Shot managed to catch fire also, however it was a 7 point straight run by DJ that helped the Bobcats pull away. Jump shot from deep, no problem. Pure from 3. Didn’t guard him, he had the confidence to jack it up and he scored. Mid range jumper when they don’t guard him? Another swish. Drive to the hole, take contact, bank it high off the rim to dodge the block and score? Not a problem. DJ showed great assertiveness when the Bobcats needed him, but also great shot selection, not forcing anything.

Sometimes you do things that you aren’t proud of… Remember that fight that you had in 8th grade against the legally blind kid who wore leg braces. Think back, he kicked you in the head with one of those braces opening up a cut on your forehead that needed 15 stitches to close. Yep, You would have lost that fight if not for a very lucky chop to the windpipe. Memories.

Last night’s win against the New Jersey Nets felt kind of like that. It was a win and we’re all thankful for that, but it wasn’t one that you’d want to hang up on your mantle and brag about. This wasn’t beating Kobe in triple overtime, this was defeating a sorry Nets team that was riding a 2 game losing streak, has only won 2 games on the road, was without starting point guard Devin Harris because of injury, was missing Terrence Williams because of behavior issues and to top it all off has a starting center who has a girl’s name.