My goal is to always remain optimistic without being completely unrealistic when I write my posts, but I have to say that the Charlotte Bobcats are making it awful hard to do that these days.

The scene from White Men Can’t Jump where Wesley Snipes is getting hustled by Woody Harrelson keeps coming to mind when I think of this team. I picture Wesley in a Bobcats uniform with his hand in the air going, “It’s pretty! It’s so pretty!”

Then Rosie Perez stands up and yells out (in her best Puerto Rican accent), “Oh no it ain’t! Go pay your taxes!”

For those of you that do watch the Bobcats I am sure I don’t need to tell you how bad things have been. I think the game Wednesday night against the Portland Trailblazers should be treated like Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series; it will be “the game that will not be named.”

We knew that this season would be a tough one, but this is starting to hurt to watch; 3-20 and in the midst of an 11 game losing streak following Saturday’s game with the Phoenix Suns. When will the pain end? When will these guys win another game?

Before we figure out the best chance for that let’s take a look at what these guys are capable of and how they stack up to the rest of the league:

After the trades of co-captain Gerald Wallace and Nazr Mohammed yesterday, and the requisite waiving of Sherron Collins, Dominic McGuire and Derrick Brown, the Charlotte Bobcats entered tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings with eight players in uniform. Stephen Jackson, DJ Augustin and Gerald Henderson made sure that wasn’t a problem.

What a strange game.

The first half of the game was relatively even, but in the 3rd quarter things became amazing.

The third was complete domination by the Bobcats, in fact it looked a little like this pic.

In that quarter they outscored the Kings 34-13 behind some of the most stifling defense and amazing offense that we’ve seen from the Bobcats all season.

Rick Bonnell’s take on the 3rd

After the third quarter, anything seemed possible. Coach Larry Brown, hardly one to throw false praise at his team, said that might have been the best they’ve ever played in his 1 1/2 seasons with the Bobcats.

In that quarter the Bobcats outscored the Kings 34-12, holding Sacramento to a pitiful 5-of-20 shooting from the field. And the Kings were no better on defense, allowing the Bobcats to shooting 12-of-20 and take nine trips to the foul line.

Fueled by that amazing 3rd, the Bobcats managed to open up a 25 point lead early in the 4th, but then they took their foot off the gas and it all fell apart. The Sacramento Kings behind Kevin Martin and Omri Casspi cut that 25 point lead down to 4. In the 4th, the Bobcats missed 13 straight shots, missed free throws, played lackadaisical defense (Boris) and generally undid all of the good that they had done up to that point in the game. It was nerve wracking, frightening and painful to watch at times, but the Bobcats survived, and a win is a win.

I’m glad we don’t have to play these jokers again this season.

Gerald Wallace was the star of the game with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 12 free throws, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots, he sold popcorn and did tax accounting during timeouts… He had everything covered. In addition to his good work in the game, he also had some very good comments following the game. Paraphrasing here, he said that the Bobcats stopped being aggressive and started trying to protect the lead. I think our good friend TheBeagle’s thoughts are spot on won this subject

Aside from the win, that comment by GW was the best thing to come out of the game….I mean he’s so right. I know Larry is a disciple of the Great Coach Smith, but the pre-shot clock college game is light years away from the 24 second shot clock in the NBA….when you call of the dogs with a full quarter to go, you’re not only playing with fire, you’re asking for the opposing team to make it closer.

All in all a win is a win and I’m glad that we don’t have to deal with the Kings any more this season

On to the TrailBlazers

I don’t want to say I’m devastated, but color me disappointed. With a sellout crowd of over 19,200 on hand for the annual Charlotte Bobcats Nascar night, featuring 4-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Ladycat Jordan’s boyfriend Denny Hamlin, I would’ve hoped for a big win and settled for just a win. I mean, with a crazy home record of 18-4 coming in, what else should I expect? And at the end of regulation, it seemed that was what was going to happen. But instead, the Bobcats came out totally flat for overtime and were outscored 14-3 in the period to lose by a final of 106-95, after coming back from a 16 point deficit in regulation.

The game started off rather tepidly, with Charlotte losing each of the first three quarters and entering the 4th down by 10. About the only bright spots up to that point were Nazr Mohammed (12 points/9 rebounds) and Raymond Felton (14/5/4 assists) playing solidly on both ends of the floor. Soon to be named All-Star Gerald Wallace was held scoreless for much of the game, although he did finish with 9 points and 10 rebounds. In the fourth, along with Wallace, DJ Augustin (22/2/1) and DeSagana Diop (6/4/2 Blocks) asserted themselves as key players in the comeback. Diop would’ve had 8 points, but a jumper from about 10 feet out was called off for a shot clock violation. Down 92-90 with 6.8 seconds left, the ‘Cats came out of the timeout and Stephen Jackson (15/5/4) hit a floater from under the basket to send the game into OT. After that, well, lets just say it wasn’t pretty.

If you want to find places to put the blame, there are plenty. The Bobcats missed 6 free throws in 22 attempts, shot just 39.8 percent from the field (including a combined 10-38 from Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson, and Gerald Wallace), and outside of DJ Augustin’s 5-9 3 point shooting, the team was 4 of 18, which comes out at an atrocious 22.2 percent. They had their shots blocked 11 times and were outrebounded by 7. And while it appears that the officials cannot count to three when the Magic have possesion, the Bobcats could have won despite bad officiating – which had Stephen Jackson complaining all night long, including him being assessed with the game’s only technical foul – that allowed Howard the freedom to have dinner and dessert in the lane. They had their chances and let it get away.

Charlotte now starts a six game road trip:
Monday in Denver (facing former Bobcat Malik Allen and G/F Stevie Graham’s brother Joey) – Sportsouth 9:00 ET
Tuesday in Pheonix (facing former Bobcats Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley) -FSCR 9:00 ET
Friday in Golden State (facing former Bobcat Vladi Radmanovic and announcer Dell Curry’s son Stephen) – FSCR 10:30 ET
Saturday in Sacramento (facing former Bobcat and tub of lard Sean May) – Sportsouth 10:00 ET
Monday the first in Portland (facing former Bobcat Juwan Howard) – Sportsouth 10:00 ET
Wednesday the third in Los Angeles against the Lakers (facing former Bobcats Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison) – Sportsouth 10:30 ET

Notes: Tyson Chandler missed the game once again, and while he is supposedly “day-to-day” I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anytime soon….DJ Augustin appeared to regain his confidence for at least the fourth quarter, expecting to make shots instead of hoping….Larry Brown played his centers 46 out of a possible 53 minutes, which is one of the highest amounts in a long time….Brandon Bass, the player many Bobcats fans have been clamoring for in a trade, had a DNP-CD, so don’t expect to see him in a Charlotte uniform….Dwight Howard was the only player with a double-double, collecting 10 points and 20 rebounds….The Bobcats wore special NASCAR themed uniforms, with checkered side panels; Jimmie Johnson recieved a special #4 “Johnson” jersey at halftime in honor of his 4 championships….

Wow, that 3rd and 4th quarter was uncomfortable, I mean really REALLY uncomfortable. Through quarters 1 and 2, we looked like the same Bobcats team that stepped on the court during this last 10 game stretch. Were taking good shots, grabbing  most of the boards and most importantly we were playing the same hellacious defense that we as Bobcats fans have come to know and appreciate. Then it happened… Well not necessarily it, more like who. The who was Tyreke Evans, In most recaps win or lose I enjoy harassing the other team and having some fun at their expense ( so sue me I’m an immature kid at heart ), but today I’m not going to do that.

Gentlemen, Tyreke Evans is real. No gimmicks, He is not an over-hyped creation of the media, He is no fluke. This rookie came pretty damned close to single-handedly bringing the Kings back from a 20+ point deficit in the second against arguably the toughest defense in the NBA. He rang up the Bobcats to the tune of 34 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. This kid is no joke.

In other frightening news after putting on his own personal first half slam dunk contest, Gerald Wallace rolled his left ankle in fourth quarter. He managed to return with a few minutes remaining to help close the game out, but you could tell that he was in significant pain. At this point who knows if this will affect his entry in this years dunk contest.

Despite Tyreke Evans’ heroics, the Bobcats cold 2nd half shooting ( 39 points ), Gerald Wallace’s ankle injury and Stephen Jackson getting victimized by Dick Bavetta with 5 personal fouls, the Bobcats managed to hang on and squeak out a 2 point win.

The good:

• Raymond Felton came within 1 rebound of getting the franchise’s first triple double
• The Bobcats moved 1 game over .500 ( 20-19 )

The bad:

• The Bobcats were outscored 56-39 in the second half and fell into the old habit of taking quick shots

The ugly:

• Gerald Wallace’s ankle sprain. Let’s hope this isn’t something that is going to linger deep into the season. We need him at close to 100% if we’re going to have a successful playoff run

Box Score

Game Thread

Congratulations Sacramento Kings fans you have just acquired Charlotte Bobcats power forward Sean May.

Kings fans have one of the strongest NBA fan bases on the web ( just witness the awesomeness of Sactown Royalty, Cowbell Kingdom or KingFans.com ) so we felt that it would be the neighborly thing for us to do to pass along some of Sean May’s legacy (from a BobcatsPlanet perspective of course)

OK Kings fans, use these items responsibly:

The Sean May is so fat… thread (18 pages long)

The top 7 Sean May photoshops… Lose weight now, Ask me how

The waive Sean May thread

Miscellaneous Sean May punchlines by amour217

- The minute Sean May arrives in Sacramento, California will fall into the ocean.

- That’s gotta be a photoshop, because a real Sean May basketball card would have to be the size of a space shuttle

- At Sean May’s house, “Draft Party” refers to standing behind Sean after the beans are gone

- Compared to Sean May, Kevin Love is a freakin Somalian

- Oh he’s got pull….gravitational pull

OK Sac fans, enjoy having the round mound of microfracture surgery on your squad. As you can tell from the links above, we’re a caring bunch here, so if you need us at any time during the season for Sean May support,  we’re here for you.