Bobcats sorta show up against the Pacers Friday night and kinda try to stay in the game until finally losing a winnable game against an okay Indy team 100-92.

AP Recap | Box Score

In the tradition of the Bobcats effort of late, I’m gonna sorta attempt this recap.  Basically the Bobcats are good enough to stay in games and win a few of them when they feel like it and aren’t bad enough to be blown out.  After tonight’s loss, the Pacers are 3.5 games up on the Cats for 7th seed in the East.  I’ll be honest, I really tried watching all 48 minutes of this game but the effort was just so poor that I found myself reading about Julian Assange and his amazing ability to have sex with a woman in her sleep.  Stephen Jackson should know something about this, Pressure ain’t been made love to in a long time.

OBSERVATIONS:

• I hope word comes that Gerald Wallace (who quietly had a big statistical night @26/13) has been nursing some sort of nagging injury during the first month of the season ’cause he looks as slow and grounded as I’ve seen from him in six years.  Two mis-played finishes around the basket (one from a pass inside from JAX during the 2nd and one on a putback attempt in the 3rd) would have been highlight dunks just a few years ago.  The good news is that Crash is still driving and still working for boards.  I just hope that Wallace hasn’t permanently moved on from the explosiveness of years past.
• The one major highlight for me so far this season has been watching D.J. Augustin transform into a real deal NBA starting point.  Even though he had a relatively quiet night (8pts, 5asts), you can see that he’s figuring it out fast.  I know that Raymond is having a career year up in NYC (albeit in D’Antoni-Land*) but within the next two seasons I’d bet that D.J. becomes the better all-around player…
• …That said, it might be time for us to declare Raymond a natural born winner.  He did it on the collegiate level and pushed a mediocre Bobcats team to the Playoffs last season and is doing solid work with a 15-9 squad in Manhattan this season.  Just hope he doesn’t have to go against Jameer again in the first round.
• 7 Turnovers for Stephen Jackson in this one.  Enough already.  You can’t have three players who handle the rock as much as JAX, Crash and Boris Diaw average 9 TOs per game.  In comparison, Boston’s big three of Pierce/Garnett/Allen only average 4.4 a contest.  Gotta put the blame solely on Coach Brown for this one.  You’ve had two seasons to figure this out and the team is still coughing up the ball at a horrendous rate.

You gotta believe that LB and MJ are working the phones in order to salvage the season.  The Playoffs are still within reach (barely) but the team will need to make a solid run by the All-Star break in order to separate from a crowded pack.  The current configuration just isn’t putting in the extra effort that made last year’s team overachieve.

Until Next Time, Enjoy the Loss Bobcats Fans,

-ASChin