The strong showing (1-3 after the All-Star break) continued for the Bobcats as they drop their second game in a row, this one to LAC, (98-94). The team seems to be going in reverse after the All-Star break. Gerald Wallace had another strong double-double with 32 points and 12 rebounds. You might ask “what happened?” Well, what happened was this: 18 turn-overs that led to 21 points for the Bobcats but they were outplayed and out-defended down the stretch. The ‘Cats were also out-rebounded 55-44. The trades, before the dead-line for (T. Thomas and T. Ratliff) were suppose to help take pressure off G. Wallace and help in the rebounding department. Ratliff had 2 (in 30:52 minutes) and Thomas had 4 (25:12 minutes), not much help. Wallace also played 48 minutes. This is not turning into the strong second-half stretch run many of us had envisioned. I suppose one could argue that getting two new players, (Thomas and Ratliff), “up-to-speed” with the rest of the team could be made. The problem with the argument is that the Clippers brought in three new players that played last night, (D. Gooden, S. Blake, and T. Outlaw), so I think that argument would have to work for both teams. Not only do the Clippers have the new players, but also a rookie head-coach (Kim Hughes) that took over after M. Dunleavy stepped down.

Close games (losses) do not seal a teams play-off seed. It does just the opposite! The loss dropped the Bobcats into ninth (behind the Bucks) position in the Eastern Conference and out of the play-offs for the moment. The Bobcats have 27 games left in the season to “play the right way” and get themselves in the play-offs. But if they continue this strong-surge in reverse, the elusive play-offs will elude them again!
The Bobcats are now one game under the .500 mark at (27-28).

The ‘Cats and Bucks are tied with the same record, (27-28), but the Bucks hold the tie breaker and the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Good:

Gerald Wallace with another double-double.

Boris Diaw with 20 points.

Team turnovers (13).

The Bad:

Team shooting (43.6%).

Out-hustled by a team going no-where.

The Ugly:

Stephen Jackson shot (1-16, 0-5 3 pts.) for the game.

Out-rebounded 55-44.

Next game for the Bobcats: Wednesday 2/24/10 9:00pm at Utah Jazz