The Charlotte Bobcats snapped an 18-game losing streak on Monday, by somehow topping the Chicago Bulls – on the road. I know Derrick Rose still isn’t back, but when five of Charlotte’s wins on the whole year are at home and just three are on the road, you have to stop and take notice.

Then again, after you lose so much for so long, you’re bound to trip and fall on a ‘W’ eventually, right?

Not if you asked me prior to the game. In fact, I had the Bobcats cracking 20 straight losses, and at one point pondered whether it was possible for them to go all of January without a win.

Unfortunately, that’s still a possibility. The good news for now, however, is that an awful losing streak is over, and even though it seemed like it’d never come, the Bobcats can actually get a winning streak going.

The likelihood actually increases dramatically with an equally bad Cleveland Cavaliers squad (7-26) coming into town Friday night.

Let’s take a closer look at the matchup as we try to figure out if Charlotte can get their ninth win of the season and second in a row:

1. The Point – Edge: Cavaliers

This one really comes down to Kyrie Irving versus Kemba Walker. As good as Walker has played over the course of his second season, we all have to agree he’s nowhere close to Irving as a complete point guard. Irving isn’t quite a finished product yet either, but he’s further advanced than Walker, and he’s a better point guard and arguably a better defender. Cleveland’s depth isn’t quite there with Charlotte, but from a talent stand-point the get the nod here.

The Charlotte Bobcats get quite the post-Christmas present on Wednesday night: a date with the defending champion Miami Heat. Not only are the Bobcats free-falling in the midst of a disastrous 15-game losing streak, but the Heat have won five in a row, stand at 19-6, and won’t want to look past the hapless Bobcats like they did the Washington Wizards earlier this year.

Miami doesn’t have a huge matchup right away ahead of them on the schedule, so you can forget about a mental lapse and the Heat simply “looking past” Charlotte. Miami will come into Charlotte guns “a blazin” and the Bobcats will have all they can do just to keep this one competitive.

The lone bright spot is that the Bobcats get to attempt to knock off the Heat at home, while star shooting guard Dwyane Wade has been struggling with his shot. The only real chance Charlotte has here is for Kemba Walker to win the point guard battle in resounding fashion (which he certainly can and probably should), and for the Bobcats to play some of the best defense of their short 2012-12 season.

If the Oklahoma City Thunder can finally lose one, then the Charlotte Bobcats can finally win one, right? I’m for the notion. Heck, I’m starting that notion. After the Bobcats blew a huge lead against a Lakers team with no identity and seemingly no spirit earlier in the week, I started thinking all hope would be lost in Charlotte. The blowout loss to the Suns on Wednesday didn’t help.

But then I saw the Kings beat the Warriors, and I felt better about the Bobcats’ potential heading into Friday night’s tilt with said Golden State. The Warriors aren’t a bad team at all at 17-9. They certainly present a risk, as they still can explode on offense at anytime and they now play better defense than they have in years. Not amazing defense, but it’s certainly better.

Charlotte, on the other hand, has dropped a “now, that’s more like it” 13 straight games and is playing pathetic defense (allowing over 104 points per game). At one time I gave them points for “competing” and “trying hard” on that end of the floor, but it’s gotten to a point where moral wins just aren’t cutting it.

The Bobcats gave the Clippers a solid fight in a 100-94 loss on Wednesday night, but enter their third meeting with the Atlanta Hawks on an embarrassing nine game slide. They’ll have to pull off an upset on Thursday night to keep it from extending to 10 straight losses, and try to turn the month of December around.

The Hawks are a legit player in the Eastern Conference, but Charlotte played them tight in one game and fairly well in another. The Bobcats are struggling with defense and finishing games right now, but they have all of their main players are should be ready to give the Hawks a strong contest.

Let’s break down each position and figure out whether or not Charlotte will come away with a victory in tonight’s game:

1. The Point – Edge: Hawks

I love what Kemba Walker is doing and the mixing in of Ramon Sessions has worked out quite well. However, neither of those guys are stalwarts on the defensive end. Jeff Teague does play solid defense, and he can also dish and score a bit, too. Devin Harris is an elite backup point guard who plays the two and subs as needed. Louis Williams is the icing on the cake as a great scorer who can run the point in a pinch.

Now this is more like the Charlotte Bobcats we’ve come to know and secretly love. While it’s funny for a second, there’s not much good that comes out of a seven game losing streak. In fact, the only good that can come out of tonight’s matchup with the Golden State Warriors is that the Bobcats have a legit chance of ending the skid before it gets to eight. A win would get them to 8-12, and they could really use it before having to prepare for the L.A. Clippers later this week.

While this latest run isn’t anything to be excited about, Charlotte has still been mostly competitive recently (save for the latest loss to the Spurs), and they should matchup well with Golden State on Monday night.

For a closer look and predicted outcome, let’s breakdown all of the positions and see which team will come out on top:

1. The Point – Advantage: Warriors

Stephen Curry can ball offensively and Jarrett Jack is one heck of a backup point guard, but Curry’s defense is a joke and Jack isn’t exactly an elite defender, either. Then again, neither are Kemba Walker or Ramon Sessions, so it’s tough to give the Bobcats the nod over the Warriors, especially given how talented Curry is. Pure talent goes to Golden State, as neither side plays a ton of defense at the position.

After last season’s debacle the expectations that many fans will likely have for this year’s Bobcats is that they don’t do worse than they did last season now that there will be 16 more games on the schedule. Living through a 7-59 season was bad enough. Now that the option of doing worse is open with the full 82-game schedule this season it would be understandable if fans were just a little apprehensive.

However, with all the changes that the team has gone through since last season I would be shocked if the team were to look anything like the group that was on the court last season. I credit His Airness with going out and getting a new head coach, several new players, and even changing the uniforms so the team will not literally look like last season’s group.

Without blowing his considerable bank account out of the water and going after Dwight Howard or any other top name free agent (cause y’all know it would have taken a moderate sized fortune to get Superman or any other superstar to come to Charlotte) Michael Jordan has done his part to give fans a better product on the court this season.

It isn’t hard to be better than last season though. So what can we honestly expect to see from the Charlotte Bobcats this season? 10 wins? 20 wins? 30 wins? Dare I say it—playoffs???