Hope you guys are over the 0-2 start…I know I’m not.  Last Night’s loss to the Pacers is a tough one to swallow.  Being up by 10 or 9 throughout much of the 2nd and 3rd quarters only to let it fall apart in the fourth quarter is troubling.  Danny Granger led scoring with 33 points but he was playing with 5 fouls much of the 4th quarter, fouling out with 44 seconds left in the game.  The killers in this game were Josh McRoberts and TyTy Hansbrough.  Combining for only20 points, they made the runs that kept and put the Pacers within and beyond striking distance.  No one blocked out on McRoberts while he had a string of putbacks through the 3rd quarter.  The Bobcats were up 8 and the Pacers were MISSING shots, “who’s on the white kid from Duke that’s played in 84 total games over 3 years and averages 2.5 rebounds and 3.3 points?”  ”Don’t worry about it, he won’t”  Wait but he did and the Pacers all of a sudden have life.

Next on our list of unimpressive honky ass white boys, Ty Ty Hansbrough!  Didn’t do much, didn’t enter the game until the 7:42 mark in the 2nd quarter.  8 points for his tenacity in the 2nd and a timely 4 more to end the game in the final minute.  I actually saw a headline “Hansbrough beats Bobcats.”  How can captain vertigo singlehandedly beat a playoff team?  Better figure it out quick Larry cause tonight, a team most people say was greatly improved this offseason looks to duplicate the feat.

Mille-wau-kay, obviously an evil place if they can elect 3 Socialist Mayors, got a kid with a goofy haircut or 4.  Bogut is from Australia, which I don’t like.  Let’s go over this “much improved” comment.  ESPN’s pre-season breakdown has many saying they will be 5th seed entering the playoffs.  Adande calls them “The league’s most useful roster.”  To me, hanging Corey Maggette, Drew Gooden and John Salmons as massive improvements and “the most useful” is a bit inaccurate.  They have yet to gel in the cheese state and I’m not fully impressed.

On a night when everything seemed to be going wrong, Stpehen Jackson stepped up with under a minute left in overtime to deliver a knockout blow to the Milwaukee Bucks, giving the Charlotte Bobcats the win, 87-86. This victory put the Bobcats just a game and a half out of the 5th spot in the East, and moved the Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot down to 4.

When you look up “overcoming” in the dictionary, the first thing you should see is this Bobcat roster. After Jackson had to leave when he re-injured his hamstring, Larry Brown was ejected in the 2nd quarter for arguing a missed call by the officials, along with poor nights for Gerald Wallace, Raymond Felton, Boris Diaw, and Larry Hughes and the fourth-quarter foulout of Theo Ratliff. But in the end, the ‘Cats overcame all this adversity and gave Coach-for-the-night Dave Hanners a well-earned victory. Postgame, Hanners said “I can look at everybody that played and say ‘what a war’ because…I thought we matched their intensity in the second half and in overtime.” He also said “We’re close to them in the playoff race, it basically is like a playoff game…it is playoff intensity and there’s no question about it. Hanners also attributed the win to winning the war of the boards, where the ‘Cats succeeded in the second half, outrebounding the Bucks by 6 after halftime and pulling down 16 offensive rebounds. Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, and Theo Ratliff combined for 29 total rebounds (11 offensive boards), and Tyson Chandler added 6 off the bench, half of which were offensive rebounds. Jackson led all scorers with 32, and was joined by Raymond Felton (12 points) as the only Bobcats in double figures. Most of the 41 minutes Jackson was in the game centered around him and Milwaukee’s John Salmons. Salmons, who had 28, hit multiple clutch shots to go with his 3 that sent the game into overtime. However, he was unable to match Captain Jack, who hit a twisting floater from the three point line and a three point shot as the shot clock expired in both cases. Jackson also hit a three with just under a minute left in overtime that proved to be the winning bucket, after Tyson Chandler deflected a rebound to Raymond Felton to let time expire. Jackson said “I just thank God for giving me the strength, but if I can be out there and help my team and not hurt them then I’m going to be out there.” He also said that tonight was a “playoff atmosphere” and that “the refs [were] refereeing the playoff way.” Larry Brown didn’t think so, as he was given two technicals in three seconds for arguing a non-call, and then implored owner Michael Jordan, who was sitting courtside, to take up his case. MJ did so, often getting out of his seat and yelling, mostly at official Bill Spooner, who was responsible for many questionable calls. Jackson, who appeared to also be sick postgame, said “I got even more pumped up when Larry got kicked out, when Coach Brown got kicked out, because you’ll seldom see that. But when a guy’s fightin’ for you, you’ve gotta show him that you’re fightin’ for him also…that’s why I love him so much because he’s always fought for me since I’ve been here.” After it’s all said and done, I’d say Jack showed Larry that he fought for this team, helping his teammates battle through all the adversity to get the win.

Notes: When asked about why he thought Coach Brown was ejected, Hanners said there was no profanity and he was puzzled as to the reason…Jackson was asked if he’d ever seen a coach tossed this quickly: “Uh, no. But you never know with Don Nelson. Thats why I love Don Nelson, there’s been times when Don Nelson and me got kicked out, together…I know as much as LB coaches, he was back here going ‘No, do this, do that.’ I know he was back here, probably writing on the chalkboard talking to himself.”…Nazr Mohammed was active tonight for the first time since February 20th after having back spasms against these same Bucks, but he did not play…Gerald Henderson joined DeSagana Diop and Alexis Ajinca on the inactive list, though he is not hurt…All the players who entered the game for Charlotte scored…former Bobcat center Primoz Brezec was in town as a member of the Bucks, his fourth team since being traded shortly into the 2007-2008 season for Nazr Mohammed. Primoz did not play, however…The Bobcats are now in the top 5 in free throws attempted for the season.

Just a few days ago, we saw the Charlotte Bobcats play horrible basketball in Washington, D.C. but somehow come out with an overtime win over the Wizards, 95-86. There would be no overtime tonight, as the ‘Cats survived multiple attempts at a comeback by the Washington Wizards to win 107-96. The Bobcats earned their franchise-record 38th win, and are for the first time ever four games over .500%. The Wizards, however, set their own franchise record with their 14th consecutive loss. While it wasn’t pretty, it’s a win, and that means the magic number to make the playoffs is down to 7.

Suspended Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas showed up for his sentencing earlier in the day (30 days in a halfway house and community service, if you were wondering), but most of his teammates were nowhere to be found. Mike Miller scored just 10 points in 36 minutes and just three Wizards scored more than 10 points. One of them is D-League call-up Alonzo Gee, who replaced the injured Al Thornton in the starting lineup with 19 points, making him Washngton’s leading scorer. No Wizard had more than 7 rebounds, and they had shots blocked by the Bobcats 8 times. Believe it or not, Raymond Felton had two of those blocks to go along with his 19 points (on 8-10 shooting) and 11 assists. Felton said postgame that “we’re treating every game like a playoff game” and attributed his recent performance boost to “being at my comfort level.” But he was far from the only Bobcat to contribute. Gerald Wallace had 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals along with several crowd-pleasing dunks. Stephen Jackson dropped in 20 points, and Boris Diaw put out a 12/5/4 line. Tyson Chandler had 4 points, 5 rebounds and a block off the bench, but his post presence was more valuable than numbers can show. New Bobcat Larry Hughes had his best game in a short period, going 4-10 for 10 points with 3 rebounds. But perhaps the most encouraging stat of the game is playing time: No starter played more than 34 minutes, and league leader in minutes per game Gerald Wallace played just 32:28 with just as much effectiveness. While I doubt this will push Coach Larry Brown to rest the starters more, considering the poor play of the bench (outside Chandler and Hughes, there were just 11 bench points on 16 shots, and 7 turnovers from the bench), it’s at least a good sign for one night. Regarding the game, LB said “I wasn’t crazy about it, we turned the ball over too much, we got beat on straight line drives.” He’s also been keeping tabs on NCAA tournament action, saying “Hell, you can be Northern Iowa, St. Mary’s, Butler, it doesn’t matter, we gotta respect whoever we play…Sometimes, I don’t know if we completely understand that.”

Notes: The Bobcats led the whole game…Former Bobcat Earl Boykins did not play in a coach’s decision for the Wizards…Despite sitting himself in the previous game against the ‘Cats, Andray Blatche started and played 38 minutes…The Bobcats swept the season series with Washington 4-0…Two of the Bobcats’ next three games are against close rivals in the playoff race, Monday the 29th vs. Toronto and Friday April 2nd vs. Milwaukee…With the Bulls being inactive tonight, the magic number of Bulls losses and Bobcats wins is now 7, and the Bobcats could possibly clinch a playoff spot by beating the Bulls in Chicago next Saturday (april 3rd), though mathematically it could be as soon as the 2nd…Miami beat the Bucks tonight, placing Charlotte 1/2 game back of the 6th spot in the Heat but just 1 1/2 games back of 5th (Milwaukee).

Sometimes you dig a hole so deep that no matter how you fight, you simply can’t climb your way out of it.

The Charlotte Bobcats found themselves in exactly that type of situation on Saturday night. In the first half  the Bobcats allowed the Bucks to repeatedly knock down shots from the perimeter and allowed Andrew Bogut to get anything that he wanted in the paint. That first half from a Bobcats fan’s perspective was very disturbing ( a little like this ) and what it led to was a 54-39 deficit.

After letting the Bucks lead build to 20 points early in the 3rd period, the Bobcats turned the game around and produced a completely different level of effort. A large part of this turnaround was one of our new Bobcats Tyrus Thomas. Tyrus posted his first double-double in a Bobcats uniform with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 4 huge blocked shots. His energy level on the defensive end of the court was amazing. If he keeps this up, it’s only a matter of time before he works his way into the starting lineup.

In the 4th, behind a huge defensive effort by Thomas and some timely offense by Stephen Jackson ( 35 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists ) the Bobcats managed to whittle the lead down to 3 points and had an opportunity to tie it on a Boris Diaw three point attempt, but unfortunately for us it clanked off the rim.

This loss puts the Bobcats in a very precarious position. we are currently 8th position in the race for the playoffs, but following last night we are only 1 game ahead of the Bucks and they now hold a 2-1 lead in the season series. Each and every one of our final 28 games is going to be critical.

Next up the L.A. Clippers

After a disappointing loss in Oklahoma City, the Bobcats were home last night to face the Milwaukee Bucks, who they are battling for playoff position. This would be the final game played at Time Warner Cable Arena this decade (the Bobcats play one more game before New Year’s, but that’s in Toronto), and the Bobcats didn’t disappoint.

Charlotte started the game of rather tepidly, with only Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton scoring the first 16 points and going into the second quarter with just a 23-20 lead. But in the second quarter, the ‘Cats took off, outscoring Milwaukee 33-14 and entering the half with a 22 point lead. In the second half, Bucks coach Scott Skiles attempted to send a message to his team by sitting stars Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut, and they were able to pull within 10, but never closer. Gerald Wallace scored 21 and had 14 boards, while Stephen Jackson had 12 points and Raymond Felton had 11. But tonight was all about the bench. Flip Murray dropped in 16, Stephen Graham contributed 11, and DJ Augustin and DeSagana Diop both had 7. Diop was credited with just one block, but from watching the game, he had at least three. This may have been Gana’s best game as a Bobcat, and he only played 12 minutes.

Post Game Quotes

Gerald Wallace: “I think, you know what, the first half was an A, the second half was a C. I think, the second half we got lazy, they got a lot of transition layups, a lot of transition wide-open shots, I think we got lacksadaisical with the lead, that we had. But I think the first half was great, we put ourselves in great position for the second half, and we were able to hold on.”

Gana Diop: on having more than the one official block – “Yeah, I got more than one, but I mean, I’m kind of used to that, from Dallas.”

on the bench: “We brought a lot of energy, you know what I’m saying, a kind of slow tempo of energy. Flip was real good on the break, we got a lot of rebounds, pushed the ball, and got a big lead in the first half.”

on coming in after watching all year: “Oh, I mean, it’s hard. But, being able to be out there and help the team, you know, being on the bench trying to cheer on my teammates, and work hard, come in for early practice, try to stay in shape, so I can get in there, I can do my job.”

on having inspiration to contribute: “Oh yeah, you got to. I mean, going early in the gym, with Cape [Assistant Coach Jeff Capel] and young guys, even though I got 9 years, DJ Augustin’s killin me. But yeah I just try to stay in shape and be ready for moments like this…it’s a long season, 82 games, you just gotta stay ready.”

Stephen Jackson: “We’re gettin better. That’s all you can ask. Still got room to grow but we’re gettin better. We’re gettin better as a team.”

on how important it is to beat another team in playoff contention: “Yeah, cuz we’re gonna be fighting for that last spot, you know, the last couple spots, should I say, at the end of the season, so it’s good to get one up on them. You know we lost one at home [in Milwaukee] against them already, so to even it out feels good.”

Larry Brown: “You know the first half we were great. I know they missed some shots, but I thought the first half we played great defense. The second half, just thank God for Stephen Graham and Gerald Wallace.”

on Stevie Graham: “I just, you know, I can count on him. He runs on the break, he tries to defend, rebounds, plays with energy. He gets better every game…I can play him almost any position, he can guard almost any position, I love guys like that.”

Next Up: Toronto

The Bobcats manhandled the Raptors the last time they played, winning 116-81 in Charlotte, the widest margin of victory ever for a Bobcats team. But the Raptors are on a roll right now, and the Bobcats are tied for the fewest road wins in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets (1 apiece). When asked about the upcoming game, Gerald Wallace said “We’re like 1 and forever on the road. We gotta figure out something or we’re gonna be watching the playoffs, because, I mean, it’d be good if we could’ve won all 41 home games, that’d give us a pretty good chance but I don’t think we’re gonna do that. We gotta figure out something on the road. Toronto, they’re a great offensive team, they have shooters all the way out to their assistant coaches, so we’re gonna have to figure out something for us as a team to prepare mentally and physically and what we can do to come out and be better on the road.” The game can be seen locally on Fox Sports Carolinas and heard on the radio on WBCN

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