The Bobcats lose again to the streaking Knicks, 99-95. The Cats played terribly for 40 minutes, but made a furious run midway through the fourth quarter. They were able to cut the lead to one point two different times late in the game, but couldn’t break through. The Cats fall to 5-10 on the season.
Observations
- In an effort to match up with Amar’e Stoudemire and the D’Antoni-ball Knicks, Tyrus Thomas got the start over Nazr Mohammed, who pulled a DNP-CD. Thomas played well and led the way for the Cats with 26 points and 11 rebounds — but that was about the only bright spot for the home team.
- Raymond Felton made a nice return to Charlotte for himself, contributing 23 points and 13 assists to help push the Knicks to their fifth straight win. But please don’t overinterpret the results of these two games; Raymond is still Raymond. He shot marginally and a lot (9-18 FG) to get those 23 points and had 6 turnovers to go along with those assists. And the Bobcats would be deep in salary cap hell had they paid for him in the offseason.
- Amar’e had 20 points on 15 shots, but surprisingly was a beast tonight on the defensive end with 6 blocks. Of course it helps that the Bobcats collectively (save Tyrus Thomas) go to the rack with perhaps the weakest crap in the league. Even the once-explosive Gerald Wallace recently seems reduced to picking up offensive fouls or getting his shots blocked (or even back-rimming dunks, as he did on Tuesday night).
- Speaking of Gerald, is dude hurt? Just 8 points/8 rebounds in 40 minutes tonight, and has not looked like himself for several games. At the very least, he’s in some kind of funk.
- And if Gerald is in a funk, then we need Stephen Jackson to pick up the slack to even have a chance. However, Jack shot poorly tonight (7-20 FG) and poured in 5 turnovers. Triple-double against the Suns aside, Jack appears a step or three slow this year. It takes him an eternity to wind up his long jumpers, ensuring a strong close-out from the nearest defender. And if he gets his man in the air on an up-fake on the perimeter, his move to go around happens in almost-slow-motion.
- Sorry for the pessimism, Baseliners, but things aren’t looking good right now. The 2009-10 Bobcats would have won this game, but this year’s edition doesn’t play with the same chemistry or defensive intensity. Next chance to right the ship is on Friday night at home against the equally disappointing Houston Rockets.
The Cats do look pretty disappointing as of late. I took a friend to the game and had to explain how the team is in a period of winning or losing most games by a just a few points each time out.
The turnovers and weak defense are clear factors for their troubles, but I guess it’s easier to get frustrated when you see the team play really well in those stretches that pull them back from double-digits. If the Bobcats are capable of playing that well, then maybe they should try doing that for a few more minutes earlier in these games, eh?
I’m done with Matt Carroll. Let’s hope Gerald Henderson gets healthy, or out of LB’s doghouse, and back on the court. Henderson’s speed and defense will help out on those stretches where Crash is out of rhythm. At the least, he’ll tire out the opposing team’s wing defenders to benefit Jack and Wallace later in the game.
I love Matt Carroll but I’m done with him too. We need Henderson back asap. I don’t know how much longer I can stand the Sherron Collins-Shaun Livingston backcourt. No wait, I do know how much longer: negative 2 weeks. SO SICK OF IT.
matt carroll is garbage. We need to find a way to get Gerald Wallace the ball more. There are several times when he is open on break, or in good position to get ball and he is just not getting it. His play is down because his effort is not being rewarded. I might sound just like observer report, however it is definetly true. Felton had good second game but also had 6 turnovers. The thing about DJ is he leads league in assist to turnover ratio. On a team like ours he is such a valuable commodity because he is only one who doesnt turn it over. He is always making that extra pass, however with him and Diaw making that extra pass we need another scorer to come up. What we should do is put Collins in the D-League and sign Rashaad Mccants. Mccants puts ball in basket with no problem, plus perfect for our team because he can bring ball up and is strong defender. Definetly not a poind guard, but when he is in, if needed, Diaw can bring ball up or S-Jax
I was in Asheville getting game-blocked by Charter Communications. It’s ashame that we lost both of these games. If we end up making a run for the playoffs, the fight for the last slot will likely be between the cats and the knicks…and the knicks will have the tie-break.