Tue12

Stephen Jackson leads all scorers with 43 as the Bobcats win an exciting game over the Rockets 102-94.

Posted by on Jan 12, 2010 in Headline, Houston Rockets, Stephen Jackson | 0 comments

The Rockets felt good for three quarters of the game until the Bobcats imposed their defensive will on the Rockets. Houston made it a close game (89-88) with a little over three minutes left in the game but Stephen Jackson maintained his torrid offense against the Rockets, scoring 16 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter. Jackson put on a scoring exhibition the Rockets would have like to missed! The Bobcats prevailed with their trade mark defense and an offensive show we’ve all waited for from Jackson. The win lets the Bobcats (17-19) keep pace in the East and take another step towards a .500 record. The lose drops the Rockets to 21-17 for this season.

Carl Landry and the Houston Rockets came to town (1/12/10) for a game with our Bobcats. The Rockets started the game with a 21-16 record and held the seventh position in the Western Conference. The Rockets are on a four-game road losing streak.

The Bobcats began the game with a 16-19 record and held the seventh position in the Eastern Conference. The Bobcats are coming off a last-second win over the Memphis Grizzlies and wanted to maintain their (13-4) strong home record.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth game. Stephen Jackson led the Bobcats with 15 points. The Rockets had 27 shots to the Bobcats 16 shots. First quarter ends with Houston in front 34-29.

The Rockets extended their lead to 13 points before the Bobcats cut it back to 10 points when the second quarter ended. The half-time score was Rockets 60-50 over the Bobcats.

The Bobcats started the third quarter strong, cutting the Rockets lead to 2 (74-72), before the quarter ended with the Rockets holding a slight edge (77-74). This was a very strong push for the Bobcats going into the fourth quarter. The third quarter also had a nice alley-oop from Jackson to Wallace (maybe a high-light on NBATV?).

Fourth quarter action saw the Bobcats take the lead (82-81) at the 7:32 mark. The Bobcats maintained control through the remainder of the fourth quarter, never losing their lead.

The Good:
Stephen Jackson led all scorers at the half with 23 and all scorers with a game-high 43. N. Mohammed had 6 points and 5 rebounds in the first half (10:21 minutes). The Bobcats took control defensively in the second half. Flip Murray with 14 points off the bench. Boris Diaw with 19 points and 6 assist.

The Mediocre:
The Rockets controlled the pace and out-rebounded the Bobcats 22-19 in the first half. Diaw and Wallace with 4 turn-overs each.

The Ugly:
Gerald Wallace was shut down in the first half with only 3 points and 4 rebounds and the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds. This was not the kind of game we’ve come to expect from “Crash”.

Next game for the Bobcats: Friday 1/15 7:00pm versus the San Antonio Spurs on FS Carolinas

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Sat19

Weekend Update – BCP Style

Posted by on Sep 19, 2009 in Alexis Ajinca, Featured, Gerald Wallace, Headline, Houston Rockets, Larry Brown, Michael Jordan | 3 comments

While I don’t pretend to be Chevy Chase, Norm MacDonald, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, or any other SNL anchor, I am here to bring you the news, and it’s Saturday Night.

Boris Diaw was hurt today in Eurobasket Qualifiers while playing for the French National Team. While we don’t know exactly what’s hurt, it’s his ankle area and he’s expected to miss around a month, placing his return around the beginning of the season, possibly allowing him to play in a few preseason games. With the already lacking depth at the Power Forward position –only Diaw and second year player Alexis Ajinca are listed as Power Forwards on the depth chart, though rookie Derrick Brown will likely spend time there– this just makes those worried about the position even more uneasy.

On a similar note, there have been rumblings that Houston and the Bobcats are in trade talks. One would assume that one of the Bobcats’ centers, either Nazr Mohammed or Desagana Diop, as well as Houston forward Carl Landry are involved. The hold-up to a deal is that last year, around September 25th, the Bobcats submitted an offer sheet to Landry, and cannot trade for him until one year after they submitted paperwork to the league office. Other pieces in this trade could be Houston’s Joey Dorsey, who is a quality backup, and Brent Barry, who I believe has an unguaranteed contract that would save the Bobcats around one million dollars. Also possibly outgoing would be guard Dontell Jefferson, or Ajinca (though I doubt it).

Last Tuesday, bobcats.com posted an Interview with assistant coach Dave Hanners, and in that interview, Hanners talked about different things, but a couple things jumped out at me.

One, Gerald Wallace had surgery, and nobody covered it. Now, I know it was just have his wisdom teeth out, but that’s still a rather major thing to totally miss, and no local paper or national media outlet covered it. As far as I know I’m the first person to put it in print.

Two, this coaching staff seems really, REALLY, high on Derrick Brown. I know he was supposed to be a first round pick, but Hanners is super high on him, and Dave is a really good coach. Which brings me to…

Three, apparently either Scott Lauer is a kiss-ass or the Bobcats Front Office wants Hanners to succeed Larry Brown. I very much hope it is the latter, because after spending as much time around Coach Brown as Hanners has, something has to have impressed the Teacher. Larry has taught multiple Head Coaches in the league, like Mike Woodson and John Kuester. Hopefully Hanners will be not only the next but the most successful.

A couple random notes:

RIP to Skipper Beck. I met Skip’s son through the arena racing stuff at Cricket Arena, nice kid, prayers to the family.

To anyone who’s upset about MJ’s speech at the Hall of Fame, that’s who MJ is, and he’s fine with that, why can’t you be? He worked to be the greatest player ever, let him enjoy it how he wants to.

Also, MJ is NOT going to play again. He was too old last time, and he knew it. He’s beyond too old this time. This isn’t the PGA, where there’s an Old Guys tour.

And lastly, Alexis Ajinca likes playing Rock Band. I’ve never seen a 7’0 drummer before…

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Sun12

Southwest Division Previews

Posted by on Oct 12, 2008 in Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies | 0 comments

dal.gif hou.gif mem.gif noh.gif sas.gif

Dallas Mavericks
Jake Kerr: Mavs Moneyball

Houston Rockets
grungedave and UofTOrange: The Dream Shake  

Memphis Grizzlies
Joshua Coleman: 3 Shades of Blue

New Orleans Hornets
Rohan: At the Hive
ticktock6 & mW: Hornets Hype
Ryan Schwan & Ron Hitley: Hornets247.com

San Antonio Spurs
Graydon Gordian: 48 Minutes of Hell

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

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Fri14

Blogcat’s Take

Posted by on Mar 14, 2008 in Houston Rockets | 0 comments

On an ESPN podcast, Marc Stein called our blowout loss to Dallas a “glorified practice session,” which actually may have been an insult to the Mavericks’ second-stringers.  I’m pretty sure JJ Barea, Malik Allen, Antoine Wright, Juwan Howard, and Jamaal Magloire regularly give the starters more of a workout than we did on Wednesday.  In fact, during a timeout in the second quarter in which Dallas outscored us 31-17, Coach Avery Johnson told his team that they were “playing against themselves right now.”  He was right, because the Bobcats were pretty much playing with themselves—all game.  
 
And thus the air went out of our little 5-game win-streak balloon.  The biggest tragedy of not making it 6 in a row was that it would have set off a completely ridiculous “battle of the unbeatens” angle tonight between the Bobcats and the 20-straight Rockets.  But if there’s an upside, maybe Mark Cuban will now feel happy and secure enough to allow bloggers back into his arena—just think of the Bobcats as champions of free speech.
 
The other upside was getting Gerald Wallace back.  I was amused that Rick Bonnell felt compelled to write an article in the Charlotte Observer entitled “Wallace’s Return Didn’t Cause Loss.”  Did anyone actually think that?  Bonnell opens the article with the line, “This theory among some that Gerald Wallace's return had anything to do with the Charlotte Bobcats' winning streak ending is the silliest example of inductive reasoning I can imagine.”  I think he actually DID imagine it.  We’ve got some serious dissonance brewing at the Observer when one writer (Tom Sorensen) believes that nobody cares about the Bobcats, and another writer (Bonnell) believes that not only do they care, they care enough to concoct paranoid theories about why we lose games.  But thanks, Bonnell, for putting those wild rumors to rest; I don’t know where we’d be without your forthright level-headedness.  Your next task is to dispel those vicious rumors I’ve been hearing that Adam Morrison deliberately injured himself at the beginning of the year to try and opt out of his contract.      
 
All that said, Wallace was a little woozy when he bravely stepped back on the floor.  Entering the game about 9 minutes in to the first quarter, Wallace got his first shot blocked by Eric Dampier, fouled Dirk Nowitzki, missed a jumper, traveled, and missed another jumper.  At this point, I was terrified that his injury was not just an injury, but some sort of disease straight out of a bad movie, in which he was knocked unconscious and woke up thinking he was somebody else—specifically, Primoz Brezec.  But Crash finally sank his next jumper, and he finished with 14 points and 5 boards in just 22 minutes.        
 
As for the rest of the practice—I mean, game—well, I did a little stat check on Wednesday afternoon just to see how our 5-game winning “spree” compared with our overall season averages.  Not surprisingly, our 5-game stats were better across the board, but the biggest disparities were our points-per-game (up from 96.3 to 109), our 3-point % (37% to 45.4%), our opponents’ offensive rebounds-per-game (down from 11.8 to 8.4), and our rebounding difference vs. opponents (-2.5 to +6.6).  And of course, all of this collapsed aganst Dallas faster than Elliot Spitzer’s reputation.  The Mavs thumped us on the boards (47 to 32) and checked our scoring (93 points, although we still shot a robust 47.1% from 3-point range).  They also shot with the accuracy of Robocop, hitting 53.8% of their field goals, including 10-of-24 3-pointers and complemented by 22-of-26 from the foul line.  A lot of their marksmanship can be attributed to late rotations on our part, but a lot of it was also just because they’re good shooters (7th in the league)…and don’t forget Gerald Wallace, who we can all agree has been the weak link this year.                

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Mon12

Blogcat’s Take, 11/12

Posted by on Nov 12, 2007 in Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers | 0 comments

Well, it wasn’t a sweep, but the last two games were like a fine filet mignon compared to the previous two games’ sack of White Castle.  The Cats had an impressive come-from-behind victory on Friday against the Pacers and a heartbreaking defeat to the stacked Houston Rockets on Sunday that was in many ways more impressive.
 
Emeka Okafor was huge on Friday, throwing up 25 points and 23 rebounds.  "I've been looking at other big men and what they do and watching what I do and kind of just comparing," Okafor said afterward, although it was unclear if he was referring to the game or quoting his favorite Dirk Diggler line from Boogie Nights.  However, as amazing as his stat line was, even more delightful was Gerald Wallace’s performance.  Crash’s 28 points and 4 steals sparked the 9-minute bridge between the 3rd and 4th quarters, during which our 8-point deficit became an 11-point lead.  He played like the old Wallace too, driving to the hoop and getting 15 FT attempts (making 10).  
 
For a long time though, things looked grim, particularly because the Pacers’ offense was supplied predominantly by Troy Murphy.  I know he and Shawne Williams have range, but when big guys knock down five 3-pointers and a slew of 15-20-footers, it just feels more demoralizing.  Add that to Jeff Foster’s 12 rebounds, all of which seemed to a) come on offense, and b) happen in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and I was looking forward to Quarter 4 about as much as the movie Saw 4. 
 
Further, Raymond Felton was a bit gimpy on the bad knee and Jason Richardson (5 points, 2 turnovers) has gone MIA.  (Say what you will about Adam Morrison, but at least you knew when he was out there.  Morrison was the crazy homeless guy who drops his drawers and pees right in the center of town square, while Richardson thus far has quietly been taking a dump in the corner.)  But anyway, the team rallied, thanks to some timely 3’s by Matt Carroll, a huge 52-39 rebounding advantage, and “just” 16 turnovers, which for us qualifies as “flawless.”   
 
On Sunday, we owned the game for about 46 minutes.  For the second straight game the Bobcats excelled in free throws (14/15), turnovers (just 12!), and Matt Carrolls (6-10 FGs, 3-4 3PTs, 17 points).  Even Richardson was electric for the first two quarters (14 points), although he was Amish the rest of the way (2 points).  Okafor also showed some serious Swan Lake moves early on (12 PTS-11 REB-2 BLK on some stellar ballet down low), but got into the old familiar foul trouble that ultimately hurt us.  With an extremely balanced attack (four guys in double-figures), the Cats led by as many as 10.  Houston’s Luther Head, Mike James, and Stab-to-my-Lou Rafer Alson were also doing their best to help us out, going a combined 4-for-15 from the field with 6 total assists (and Steve Francis can’t crack this lineup??). 
 
But none of that mattered, because Yao Ming simply would not be denied.  With 34 points, 8 boards, 3 blocks, and even 4 assists, we were no match for his powers.  Yao missed just 2 of his 15 FG attempts and made all 8 of his free throws in a devastating one-man attack.  Fittingly, he snagged the last key rebound of the game when he hauled in Alston’s idiotic 3-point attempt with 38-seconds to go, got fouled, and sank both shots to give the Rockets a 1-point lead.  Wallace was called for a ridiculous offensive foul when he subsequently drove to the basket on Tracy McGrady, effectively ending the game. 
T-Mac, everyone’s favorite existentialist superstar, got the results when it mattered most, scoring 12 of Houston’s final 16 points.   "I don't think there's a better 1-2 combination … they might be the best combination since MJ [Michael Jordan] and [Scottie] Pippen," a glum Wallace observed afterward (note to reporters: is it really necessary to clarify who Wallace meant by “MJ” and “Pippen”?).

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Sun11

Rockets 104, Bobcats 83: Blogcat’s Take

Posted by on Feb 11, 2007 in Houston Rockets | 0 comments

I missed this one live, as I was supporting my wife’s band, Powdercake, who were playing their first ever gig at a local club, so I taped the game and watched the “Director’s Cut” this morning. By the way, if you are interested, you can visit their page at www.myspace.com/powdercakeband, sample their music, and see pictures of them looking appropriately cool/bored. They are sort of a pop/punk/emo-ish girl group, so expect lots of lyrics about "no one understands my deepness" and "I'm all alone and I just want to be me," etc.

Okay, enough shameless promotion, I suppose I need to get to the game at some point, which seemed to be the Bobcats' attitude as well. Actually, The Bobcats started out well and built an 11-point lead. But there were cracks in this façade: Emeka Okafor had to sit quickly with 2 fouls, the shooting percentage was artificially high (including 5-for-5 on 3-pointers), and it was artificially low for the Rockets (0-of-9). So basically the first 7 minutes was a dot.com bubble and the rest of the game was a 3-quarter recession of low productivity (just 4 points from Gerald Wallace, just 5 assists from Raymond Felton), deficits (25 at one point), and high turnover (27!).

I was unaware that Houston had such a large Japanese contingent (actually, I didn’t think there was a large contingent of anything in Houston, unless you count air pollution); even the Budweiser ads are translated into Japanese. Anyhow, the “Toyota Center” is an appropriate name for the Rockets’ arena. Nothing flashy about this team, but Jeff Van Gundy’s system of Total Quality Management maximizes the efficiency of components such as Rafer Alston (14 points, 8 assists, 9 steals), Luther Head (17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds), and Juwan Howard (16 points, 6 rebounds). Howard, by the way, briefly got into it with Gerald Wallace for double-technicals, but it didn’t amount to much. I’m assuming Gerald told Juwan to look at the scoreboard before realizing that we were, in fact, trailing by 12.

As the remaining minutes quickly became a mere formality (even more quickly with my fast-forward button), Coach Bickerstaff went into trial-and-error mode with the lineup, granting more playing time to Melvin Ely and the recently competent Walter Herrmann (12 points and a highly ironic 0 turnovers in 23 minutes). Sometimes I wonder if Coach has a specialized slot machine back there that—in lieu of cherries, gold bars, etc.—just has the players’ faces on the three dials. Then on games like this he just pulls the lever and throws out there whoever's smiling face pops up: "And it's…Primoz!…Melvin!…Walter! Get out there!" No, of course Coach doesn’t do that—that crazy. It’s probably more like a wheel-of-fortune that he spins…

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