Thu30

Live Blogging Charlotte Bobcats opening night

Posted by on Oct 30, 2008 in Cleveland Cavaliers, Larry Brown | 0 comments

Gentlemen…

I’ll be liveblogging tonight’s game versus the Cavs. Despite an unimpressive preseason record and a gaping chasm at power forward, I’m still filled with optimism going into tonight’s game and into the season. The reason for the optimism is simple Larry Brown > Sam Vincent. If you wan’t to get technical, I guess you could even say (Larry Brown + anyone with a pulse ) > ( Sam Vincent + Jeff McInnis).

As we like to say around BobcatsPlanet “In Larry Brown I Trust”.

Tip off will begin shortly, Let the fun begin.

  • Starting lineup of Raymond Felton, Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace, Sean May and Emeka Okafor. We’ll see how long Sean May’s conditioning/flab holds up.
  • Early dunks by J-Rich, Lebron responds in kind
  • Airball and turnover by Emeka followed by Sean May getting his shot blocked by an 83 year old Ben Wallace.
  • Tied up at 10-10 following a Raymond Felton three pointer. Hopefully that early 3 won’t motivate him to jack up too many of those tonight
  • 7 minutes into the season and we already have a 2 point guard lineup
  • Adam (without hair) checks in
  • Boobie Gibson for three… thats just fun to say
  • Ditto. see the line above
  • Adam Morrison with 2 quick baskets… Who needs the hair? ;-)
  • 25-16 at the end of the 1st quarter. No worries though ILBIT
  • Adam Morrison scores in the post. And one.
  • Ouch. JJ Hickson posterizes Emeka. That’ll be on Sportscenter folks.
  • Umm, I can tell already that NC Education Lottery guy is really going to annoy me.
  • For crying out loud, Somebody cover Boobie… so to speak
  • Down 42-28
  • Back to back baskets by Boobie, make it 46-28
  • Well, we’re down 50-33 at haltime primarily do to 20 first half points by an out of control Boobie. For the second half we need to see more out of J-Rich, Crash and Emeka They have given us a combined total of 12 first half points.
  • ILBIT
  • Nice job of knocking LBJ to the floor when he drives to the basket. I really miss the days of the hard foul, when a Charles Oakley would decapitate you for even glancing at the paint… Ah, the good old days.
  • J-Rich heats up and trims the lead to 14
  • Come on Mek, finish strong
  • Free throws by Mek then Crash and behold, The 19 point lead is whittled down to 7 points
  • Nice. LB gets his first tech of the season. Boobie misses the free throw attempt.
  • Jason Richardson is definitely taking LS’s advice to heart and taking the ball to the basket instead of settling for thejumper.
  • 64-57 Cavs… End of the third 68-59 Cavs.
  • Its official, I hate Game Show Gary
  • 4th quarter, Bobcats down 73-61. Its clear that despite being only 5’10″ DJ can get his shot whenever he wants it..Now whether or not he can consistently knock those shots down is another story entirely
  • Gerald Wallace fouls out with 13 points, The Cavs are pulling away. back up 87-66
  • Raymond Felton fouls a three point shooter (Boobie). Nice job Ray… Not so much.
  • We have our first appearance of the Eiffel Tower Alexis Ajinca, He immediately gets stuffed by JJ Hickson
  • Its garbage time
  • 96-79 Cavs is the final score. There were some positives, Jason Richardson did his thing with 24 points, Adam Morrison had a decent showing off the bench with 9 point. On the other hand, 60% of our starting lineup ( Ray, May & Emeka ) shot a combined 3-22 from the floor. Good times
  • Until next time, ILBIT.

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Tue21

2008 Charlotte Bobcats Season Preview

Posted by on Oct 21, 2008 in Cleveland Cavaliers, Larry Brown | 0 comments

Charlotte Bobcats
Last Years Record: 32-50
Key Losses: The epic suck of Sam Vincent
Key Additions: Larry Brown, DJ Augustin,a healthy Sean May & Adam Morrison.

1. What significant moves were made during the offseason?

Easily the most significant move of the off season was the firing of Sam Vincent. Its hard to truly capture in a few paragraphs how truly bad of an NBA coach Sam was, but I’ll try to give you a picture of what Fine Ham Biscuit did for the Bobcats last season.

Exhibit A: He started Jeff McInnis at the point. This alone is worthy of getting a coach fired, but we’re just warming up.

Exhibit B: As a result of playing Jeff McInnis at the point Sam decides to play Raymond Felton at the shooting guard spot…. shooting guard. Ray’s first 3 seasons in the league he shot 39.1%, 38.4% & 41.3% from the field. Last year he shot a whopping 28% from the three point stripe. Call me crazy ( and most people do ) but I prefer a shooting guard that can shoot. When you throw in the fact that this made us way undersized at the SG spot then the decision to do this was even more ridiculous.

Exhibit C: Continually playing Gerald Wallace at power forward instead of his natural position of small forward. Power Forward is something that Gerald can do in spots, but when you match him up repeatedly night in and night out against bigger guys, this is the type of thing that happens. Witness Gerald Wallace’s head versus Mikki Moore’s elbow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But enough Sam-Bashing, the next key addition that was made was the hiring of Larry Brown. He is exactly the type of coach this team needs. He may be a little nutty, he may like to wear bibbed overalls, but any coach with 1000+ wins and a championship at the NCAA and NBA level is fine by me. His resume demands respect from the players and as plus, at his age he is unlikely to bolt for greener pastures. This in all likelihood is his last coaching gig.

Our next biggest acquisition is our top draft pick DJ Augustin. As a rookie he should be able to push Raymond Felton for minutes. Larry Brown is a certifiably hell on point guards, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Ray or DJ as a LB favorite or as a resident of his doghouse throughout the season.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

Right now the Bobcats have an overabundance of wings.Would you like a 2 time slam dunk champ that scored 21+ ppg last season and led the league in three pointers made? We have that in Jason Richardson. How about the only player in modern basketball history not named Olajuwon or David Robinson that averaged 2 blocks and 2 steals in a season? Gerald Wallace did that two seasons ago. How about a hard working scrappy guy that worked his way up from the NBDL and was in the top 10 in 3 point % last season, then Matt Carroll is your guy. Are you looking for a player thats always in the right place at the right time, A guy that knows the game and plays the right way, then former ACC player of the year Jared Dudley has to be your guy. How about a guy who has something to prove? Adam Morrison had a rough rookie year, but even during those tough times there were moments where he showed how offensively potent he could become like his 26 point second half outburst against the T-Wolves his rookie year.

All five of these guys deserve minutes, but there just isn’t enough time to go around. With that being said, I fully expect one of these guys to be moved before the trade deadline.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

Two words, Power Forward. At this spot we have a Sean May who is recovering from microfracture surgery, rookie frenchmen Alexis Ajinca, Second year man Jermareo Davidson… and thats about it. If one our wings get traded, you better believe that it will be for a power forward.

4. What are the goals for this team?

Playoffs. Anything short of that would be considered a failure.

5. Will this be the year that the city of Charlotte embraces the Bobcats?

Theres one important thing that you need to know about the people here in Charlotte. This is a city full of bandwagon fans, Of course you have yout diehards like all of the folks here, but the majority of the folks in town are the corporate khaki pants wearing, blackberry clutching, wine and cheese banker types that don’t really care to show up for a sporting event unless its “the” place to be seen. If you think I’m exaggerating, take a look at the NFL fans in Panthers stadium this season compared to a down year. This season you can’t walk 10 feet with your $11 beer in hand without tripping over half a dozen Biffs and Muffys. Its a shame.

Once we make the playoffs this season, the city of Charlotte (Biffs and Muffys included) will begin to embrace the Bobcats.

Predicted Record: 41-41

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Fri17

2008 Central Division Previews

Posted by on Oct 17, 2008 in Cleveland Cavaliers | 0 comments

chi.gif cle.gif det.gif ind.gif mil.gif

Chicago Bulls
Nels: Give Me The Rock
Matt: Blog-a-Bull

Cleveland Cavaliers
Rock: Waiting For Next Year
FTS: Fear The Sword
David Friedman: 20 Second Timeout
Amar Panchmatia: Cavalier Attitude

Detroit Pistons
Brian Spencer: Empty the Bench
Natalie Sitto: Need4Sheed.com
Matt Watson: Detroit Bad Boys

Indiana Pacers
Tom: Indy Cornrows

Milwaukee Bucks
Jeramey Jannene: The Bratwurst
Frank Madden: BrewHoop

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Mon17

Blogcat’s Take, 3/17

Posted by on Mar 17, 2008 in Cleveland Cavaliers | 0 comments

On Friday night the Bobcats entered a festival-like atmosphere in Houston.  With the Rockets poised to capture the second-longest winning streak in NBA history, the crowd was ready to party.  Even the announcers, Clyde Drexler and whoever does Houston's play-by-play, were more like red carpet fashion reporters.  They were full of kind words for the Bobcats too, because—let’s face it—Charlotte had no chance, so why not patronize them? 
Listening to them extol the coaching efforts of Sam Vincent (“he’s really done a great job developing this young team”), I thought they may have been laying it on a little thick, considering we’re on a pace to win 3 fewer games than last year, despite the importation of one of the game’s great talents (Jason Richardson) and no extensive injuries (save for Gerald Wallace, and we won 5 straight while that happened).  In fact, this team has been spectacularly mismanaged in my opinion.  Entering the season, we had two huge and long-standing weaknesses (crippling incompetence at center and backup point guard) that we didn’t address until much too late, and then we bumped everyone up 1 slot out of position to inexplicably make room for a decrepit, prime-less point guard (who—surprise!—hasn’t been picked up since we waived him).  But that’s just me.
 
Then again, these are two announcers who regularly misuse the words “commodity” (a commodity isn’t a “great product,” it’s merely a “product,” like corn and soybeans) and “literally” (I don’t care how great a player is, he doesn’t literally put a team on his back), and the play-by-play guy also can’t pronounce “Omeka” correctly (he says, “O-mee-ka”), which is somewhat insulting, considering Okafor came of age in Houston.  So I don’t know, maybe they legitimately believe Vincent has done a good job. 
 
In any case, the announcers kept their cheerfulness up throughout the affair, even though the Rockets’ victory lap temporarily stalled with a scoring drought that lasted nearly 8 full minutes.  This was something of an Epic Drought; it was like the Lord of the Rings of scoreless streaks.  I’m not even sure if we’ve done something like this (although we probably have).  The Rockets were stuck on 18 points with 4:09 to go in the first quarter all the way until the 8:27 mark of the second.  During this streak, the Rockets failed to get to the foul line, and they missed 6 three-pointers, 2 jumpers, and a layup.  The Bobcats went from trailing by six to leading 29-18.  Even after the Rockets scored, they shot just 6-for-16 the rest of the quarter to close out the half down by 7.     
 
In the third quarter, the Rockets righted the ship pretty quickly and the hometown celebration was back on.  Assuming their more familiar role of being the offensively impotent ones in any given game, the Bobcats scored merely two points in the first four minutes of the third quarter en route to just 37 total second-half points.  They never trailed by more than 14 though, causing the Houston announcers to break a record of their own for most times using the phrase, “And I’ll tell you what, this Charlotte team keeps hanging around!”  At least they didn’t say we were literally hanging around.       
 
On Sunday evening the Bobcats found themselves in Cleveland, and poor Matt Carroll found himself guarding LeBron James (just two nights after having to cover Tracy MacGrady—happy St. Patrick’s Day, Matty boy!).  Both times Carroll was in colossally over his head, matching up about as well as Jesse “The Body” Ventura did with Predator.  The King put up 33 points, 10 dimes, and 7 boards, and then shot a green laser missile that blew out Carroll’s guts in an exploding red mist—no wait, I meant, he also had two blocks on a steal while goading Carroll into 4 fouls.  Conversely, Bron-Bron had no trouble guarding Carroll—in fact, I think he had a harder time handling Gisele Bündchen for the Vogue cover shoot.  Carroll had a sparse 4 points and…that’s pretty much it, actually.   
 
This was not a fun game to watch or hear.  In the second quarter, slimy Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert came over to the announcers’ booth, causing both commentators to switch their “fake suck-up laughs” setting to “fully automatic.”  When not chortling over Gilbert’s unfunny remarks, all three spent an exorbitantly long time being outraged by DeShawn Stephenson for recently calling James “overrated.”  Sheesh, judging by their level indignation, you’d have thought Stephenson said, “If LeBron James was a white man, he would not be in this position.”  Anyway, the sycophancy shock-waves generated by the announce team were so potent they must have knocked out the scoreboard, because it wasn’t visible for most of the third quarter.    
 
Not that I really needed a scoreboard to keep track of this one.  I simply needed to count the number of times Zydrunas Ilgauskas drew Nazr Mohammed way, way out of his comfort zone to know we were losing badly.  Ilgauskas’ range (he scored 16 points, every one of which seemed to com via an 18-footer) left our interior defense reeling.  Unprepared to deal with a big who could actually shoot jumpers, Mohammed and Okafor played in a distracted state (combining to shoot just 8-of-23), while Jared Dudley looked totally demoralized (0 points, 3 fouls, and just 5 boards in 22 minutes).  Without any contributions from them or Carroll, we didn’t have enough juice to rally, although two late 3-pointers by Richardson made it look respectable.  A still-tentative Gerald Wallace (10 points, 5 assists) insisted afterward that he “take the blame for this one” afterward, so maybe that theory about him costing us the Dallas game was actually his own.

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Tue26

Blogcat’s Take, 2/25

Posted by on Feb 26, 2008 in Cleveland Cavaliers, Sacramento Kings | 0 comments

Call it the “Dime Magazine Cover Jinx.” The very night I got the latest issue of Dime, which promised an in-depth article about Gerald Wallace on the cover, Crash got clocked by a Mikki Moore elbow and knocked more unconscious than Trent Green. Opening the magazine, I became uncomfortable straight away when the article began with a quote from Arthur Ashe. These comically earnest attempts to hold up athletes as transcendent, Christ-like figures are never a good idea, and unless the subject is Mohammed Ali, authors should avoid it (especially if they’re later going to write that their subjects also like NASCAR and enjoy sandwiches from Chik-Fil-A). Yep, bad karma was everywhere, and I probably didn’t help things by dissing Moore the last time we played Sacramento. Sure enough, early in the third quarter, Mikki landed a shot to Gerald’s jaw that was better than anything in the entire Klitschko-Ibragimov bout.

Now Crash will be out for two weeks with a 3rd degree concussion (apparently, they’re measured like burns), and the hole he leaves in the lineup looms larger than Hillary Clinton’s Dunkin’ Donuts bill. Against the Kings, the Bobcats rallied to send the game to OT—thanks largely to a gonzo-ridiculous 3-poitner by Jason Richardson with 20 seconds left—but faltered pitifully in the extra frame, because we lacked Wallace’s scoring ingenuity. We had a 114-112 lead with 2:40 to go, and—I feel like I’ve written this before—POSSESSION OF THE BALL, and we proceeded to commit–in rapid succession–a shot-clock violation, two missed free throws, a missed layup, and a-(sigh)-nother missed free-throw. And yet we STILL had a chance with 3 seconds left and trailing by 1. But Raymond Felton missed a baseline jumper for the win, and Sack-Town (the Bay Area, and Back Down), went back to California, a state where they allegedly know how to party.

Anyway, apart from the Wallace injury, which was just plain tragic, there were some quirky aspects to this one. The strangest of all was Kevin Martin’s stat line of 15 points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field (and 13-of-15 from the foul line). There was also Francisco Garcia’s extraordinary 6-of-8 three-point shooting. Meanwhile, Ron Artest—who wouldn’t recognize ordinary if it threw a cup of beer on him—finished with 20 points, 9 boards, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. Finally, replacing Mike Bibby (although let’s face it, there’s no such thing as “replacing” a guy like Bibby), was Beno Udrih, with 17 points, 6 boards, 8 assists, a block (?), and, um, 6 personal fouls—weird…

One of the Sacramento announcers called Udrih the “Tasmanian Slovenian,” although I’m not sure if that actually works as a nickname. If you wanted to label him as a sort of whirling-dervish type, wouldn’t he have to be called the “Slovenian Devil”? After all, it’s the “Devil”-part of “Tasmanian Devil” that lets you know someone’s crazy and out-of-control; otherwise, the person is merely from Tasmania and not necessarily crazy (unless you’re prejudiced against Tasmanians). A “Tasmanian-Slovenian” would technically just be a guy who lives in Slovenia and has Tasmanian ethnicity, similar to an African-American here in the U.S.

Whatever. These are the things I try to concentrate on amidst the rubble that is the 07-08 season. The next night brought no respite from this barrage of hopelessness either, as we lost even more decisively to Washington. These were the same Wizards, mind you, that were coming off a loss to a Cavaliers team that essentially started LeBron James and 4 D-Leaguers. And Damon Jones, who ended up as the second-highest scorer of the game with 27 points. Actually, this was probably the worst thing that could have happened to us, because it meant Antawn Jamison would be pissed. Indeed, Jamison went for 22 points, 9 rebounds (almost every one of which seemed to be a Felton layup that rimmed out), 5 assists, and 2 steals. The Wizards were brutally efficient, finishing with just 7 turnovers and a staggering 22 offensive boards, good for 28 second-chance points.

Jesus, did Jeff McInnis play for Washington too? I thought I heard one of the Wizards announcers say it…Yep, he sure did: in 1998-99 he was with them. Huh. Traded for the immortal Isaac Austin (how could I have forgotten that blockbuster?). Having McInnis on your team is the equivalent of dating an older slutty girl, because you have to listen to all these other TV announcers talking about when they “had” him, no doubt smirking at the fact that he’s now your problem. Anyway, McInnis put in another 31 minutes, while Earl Boykins continues to play in the mid-teens. And speaking of PT, I know his 25 points were great and all, but why did J-Rich only play 39 minutes? Without Wallace, shouldn’t Richardson be on the court for basically the whole game?

In honor of the Razzies, my nominee for this game would have to be Nazr Mohammed. Besides owning a large share of responsibility for the appalling difference in rebounds, Mohammed went 1-of-9 from the field for 5 points and 2 turnovers. The worst supporting actor would be Ryan Hollins, who played 3 minutes and got a technical foul for taunting. It was just a bad, bad game. If this game were a hip-hop song, it would fall somewhere between “Ice, Ice Baby” and one of those Smash Williams “raps” at Dillon pep rallies.

I don’t know how much more I can stand of this. Like Axl Rose, I ain’t got time for the pain. Screw it, I’m done with basketball. I think I’m going to get back into comic books—cancel my subscription to Dime and replace it with Wizard Magazine or something. At least comic book characters never die or get seriously injured. Wonder what Captain America’s up to these days…This sports stuff is just too…real for me. My wife accuses me of being spacey and antisocial, but I think I actually need to withdraw further from reality—maybe I’ll play some World of Warcraft or D&D online and get into random arguments with strangers over who has more hit points and whatnot.

But it’ll have to be after Wednesday, because next up is the Knicks, and I’ll actually be in person for this one at the Garden. Oh yeah, Knicks-Bobcats, baby—I can hardly wait. If anyone’s going to be at MSG, let me know and maybe we can try and meet up. I’m guessing we shouldn’t have much trouble finding each other…

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Wed16

Blogcat’s Thumbs Up/Sideways/Down

Posted by on May 16, 2007 in Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz | 0 comments

Thumbs Up: The Utah Jazz
They’re off to the Western Conference Finals, even though they were mostly dreadful last night.  With 25 turnovers and 21/33 shooting from the free throw line, they were like a team of Inspector Gadgets.  Remember Inspector Gadget?  He used to solve all the cases despite never having any clue what he was doing—he would always come out on top essentially by accident.  Meanwhile, Kirilenko (21 and 15) and Boozer (21 and 14) were sort of like the “Penny” and “Brain” of the group and did all the work. 
 
One thing that totally baffled me: with about 3 minutes left and the Warriors trailing by one, TNT commentator Doug Collins said that Golden State coach Don Nelson “couldn’t have scripted this any better.”  Wha??  Why would any coach prefer to be trailing late in a game on the road, let alone the coach of the most volatile team in the league?  Throughout the playoffs, this had been exactly the type of situation in which the Warriors lose their cool, and sure enough Stephen “Dr. Claw” Jackson picked up stupid technicals and that was it for the Bay Area Believers.  No, I’m sure if he’d had a choice, Coach Nelson would have scripted something else, like maybe being up by 20 and a water bottle full of Old Granddad tucked under his chair.
 
Thumbs Sideways: The Cleveland Cavaliers
Please win tonight and end this series; the only reason I’m rooting for Cleveland is because they’re ahead.  These games are like 48 minutes of watching Christopher Moltisanti asphyxiate on his own blood.  I do feel bad for Jason Kidd, though, who could’ve been goin’ back to Cali, Cali, Cali had Nets GM Rod Thorn not said, “I don’t think so.”  Think of what a wonderful world it would have been: the Lakers might have been more competitive in the first round of the playoffs, we would have been spared from this series because the Nets wouldn’t have been in the playoffs to begin with, and Cleveland could have gotten bounced in the first round by some other team, because they suck too.  I mean, seriously, Sasha Pavolovic is actually starting for them.   
 
Thumbs WAY Down: Suspensions for Amare and Boris
I don’t have much original to say about this, but my thumbs haven’t been this far down since I saw the movie Babel (did we really need to see that Moroccan kid masturbating over his sister?  Was that really advancing the already ridiculous plot?  C’mon, editors).  These suspensions are basically a permutation of what we see in other sports: the if-I-make-an-exception-here-than-I-have-to-for-everyone dislogic.  You see it in everything from suspensions to not letting players honor someone with innocuous marks on their uniforms.  Here’s the thing: no you don’t have to treat everyone the same.  You're not Immanuel Kant,  you’re a commissioner, and you can and should run your entire league using broad rules with arbitrary enforcement. 
 
How did strict, irrational interpretation of the rules become the dominant methodology in our nation’s sports leagues when it’s so un-American?  I mean, the Supreme Court revisits cases all the time, the Constitution gets amended, Oprah withdraws her support from James Frey…    
 
In any event, it’s obviously pointless to argue the absurdity of these suspensions when Stu Jackson actually tells ESPN’s Chris Sheridan, "It's not a matter of fairness. It's a matter of correctness, and this is the right decision."  Right there, you know what you’re dealing with: someone who feels fundamentally different about things and isn’t budging.  Your might as well be trying to convince Jerry Falwell of evolution or Kitana Baker that Miller Lite tastes great… 

{moscomment}

 

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