Bobcats Hold Off Shorthanded Hawks for 41st Victory

Charlotte Bobcats vs Hawks, 4/6/10

The Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Atlanta Hawks 109-100 at the Cable Box on Tuesday night. The win ensures that the Cats will finish no worse than .500 for the season; however, the Cats remained mired in the 7th spot in the East as the Bogut-less Bucks also won again.

AP recap here | Box score here

The Hawks started Jeff Teague and Mo Evans in place of Mike Bibby (toe) and Joe Johnson (thumb) and did not get off to a good start. The Bobcats throttled them 34-14 in the opening quarter, with Gerald Wallace slashing to the basket on Evans at will. Wallace finished with a game-high 28 points (10-18 FG, 8-8 FT) and 6 rebounds.

The Cats continued to shoot well (51% on the game) and went into halftime with a 23-point lead. Things were looking good for banged up stars of the Bobcats to possibly have an easy night. Gerald Wallace played the game with some sort of mini-shoulder pad thing on his left shoulder, while Stephen Jackson wore a wrap around his left hamstring that he readjusted frequently throughout the night.

But alas, it’s the NBA and everyone makes a run. Atlanta was able to chip away at the Cats lead in the third quarter behind Jamal Crawford and Mo Evans. The persistent Hawks were eventually able to cut the Bobcats lead to 9 points with 8 minutes left, forcing Larry Brown to keep the starters in for the bulk of the fourth quarter.

The move worked, as the Hawks were never able to get the lead below 9. After Raymond Felton weaved through the Hawks backcourt pressure to get a driving layup to put the Cats up by 13 with two minutes left, the Hawks conceded by subbing Randolph Morris and Mario West into the game. But with 3 more games remaining this week and an outside chance of overtaking the Bucks for the 6th spot, it would have been ideal night to have been able to give the starters some rest in the fourth quarter.

Tidbits

Boris Diaw came thisclose again to notching the Bobcats first triple-double: 17 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists.
The Cats were the aggressors all night, finishing with 32 free throw attempts to the Hawks 13. Both teams were lights out from the line: Cats 28-32, Hawks 12-13.
DJ Augustin was perfect from the field in 13 strong minutes off the bench: 4-4 FG including 3-3 3PT for 11 points.
The Bobcats hit the road for a quick 2-game trip. They’ll face New Orleans Wednesday night at 8 PM ET, then Houston Friday night at 8:30 PM ET.

-Dr. E

Joe Johnson Sends Bobcats Home at the Buzzer

Charlotte Bobcats@Hawks 3/19/10

Wow. Exciting finish to an otherwise pedestrian game as Raymond Felton and Joe Johnson exchange clutch shots in the final 3.8 seconds of overtime. Final score: Hawks 93, ‘Cats 92.

AP recap here | Box score here

The Bobcats Should Have Won This Game

You can’t really blame Joe Johnson for the loss. Up by ten points midway through the 4th quarter, the Bobcats had numerous opportunities to put the game away. Turnovers (15) and poor bench play (outscored 28-15) hurt throughout but look at the final three plays of regulation to see where the game was really lost:

Up by four with a little more than 2:00 on the clock, the Bobcats proceed to:

Possession One: Raymond Felton forced drive and miss at the end of the shot clock on a busted play that was supposed to go to either Stephen Jackson or Boris Diaw.
Possession Two: Stephen Jackson two missed free throws.
Possession Three: Boris Diaw passes up a two-footer in the lane for a Theo Ratliff missed ten footer.

Regulation over, Hawks tie it up to send it to OT.

Meanwhile in OT the Bobcats are KILLED by JAX’s four consecutive missed 3-pointers. While it’s understood that Jackson is the team’s first scoring option, I’m very curious as to how his teammates are going to react to his decision making tonight. JAX wasn’t feeling it from downtown all evening and ended up going 1-7 from behind the arc.

Joe Johnson finally got hot in the 4th quarter and OT after struggling for most of the game and then emphatically sealed the win at the buzzer with a contested jumper over Raymond Felton.

Bullets

Not only did Raymond have a great game with 25 points (on 11-19 shooting) in 46 minutes but he had the two clutch baskets in OT that might have won the game if not for Johnson’s heroics. The weird line-drive floater in the lane with 3.8 to go in OT was surpassed only by his “Rumblin, Fumblin, Stumblin” fast break layup in traffic a minute earlier. One could only hope they Ray will learn to time his game winners a little closer to the buzzer from this point on.
As mentioned above, the Bobcats bench was outclassed – that was the difference that kept ATL in the game during a first half when their starters were struggling. Jamal Crawford continues to torment the Bobcats (16 points) no matter what jersey he happens to be wearing.
Raymond’s backup, D.J. Augustin, served up another DPBCI (Did Play But Completely Ineffective). Seven minutes, 0-2 from the field, 2 assists, 2 fouls, 1 turnover. So glad that we don’t have Brook Lopez lumbering down the lane.
Gerald Wallace with a big first game back from the ankle injury. Crash was mostly MIA in the first half but dropped 18 points after the break to finish with 20 points, 16 boards, and a BIG block in transition that helped swing the momentum in the Bobcats direction during their 25-18 third quarter run.
Theo Ratliff had a terrible game offensively (1-9 from the floor) but you really have to spread the blame around to his teammates (especially Boris Diaw) for feeding him shots late in the shot clock that he had no business taking.
Some good news may be on the horizon. The two main areas where the Bobcats were deficient against the Hawks (offensive production at Center, bench scoring) will certainly be improved once Nazr Mohammed and Larry Hughes return from injury. Hughes should be ready by early next week while Mohammed is still day to day.

Until Next Time, Enjoy the Loss Bobcats Fans…

-ASChin

Hawks Cool Off Streaking Bobcats

Charlotte Bobcats @ Hawks, 1/22/10

Shenanigans

The Charlotte Bobcats saw their six game winning streak come to an end and their old road bugaboos return a Friday night loss to the Atlanta Hawks, 103-89. AP recap here, box score here, UPDATE PopcornMachine.net GameFlow here.

Slow start? Check. The Cats were down 29-13 after 10 minutes. The Cats would bounce back for a decent second quarter, but the damage was already done.

Turnovers? Check. 17 of them (leading to 29 Hawks points). Stephen Jackson led the way with 7. The Hawks were all up in the passing lines like they thought they were the Bobcats or something.

Invisible Boris Diaw? Check. 35 minutes, 0 points on 0-5 FG, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 fouls.

Adding injury to insult, Raymond Felton went down with a sprained right ankle late in the first quarter and didn’t return. Felton was cutting through the lane on the offensive lane and was thrown off balance by a slight bump from Josh Smith. He stepped on Jamal Crawford’s foot and rolled the ankle. Though the roll didn’t look all that dramatic in real time or on replay, Felton went down in a heap and didn’t put any weight on the foot as he was helped back to the locker room.

Felton did return to the bench after halftime and reportedly lobbied to return to the action, but Larry Brown did not insert him back into the game. DJ Augustin played 23 minutes in Ray’s absence and looked OK, but ultimately failed to take advantage of the extra minutes.

Additionally, Bonnell is reporting that Gerald Wallace also aggravated his sprained ankle late in the contest. That wasn’t evident during the broadcast, but then not many Gerald Wallace injuries are evident.

The Hawks got strong efforts from their starters + Jamal Crawford, who actually led them in scoring with 24 points off 8-12 FG/5-8 3PT.

Bullets

This marks the halfway point of the season for the Cats; they’re 21-20 overall and sit at 6th place in the Eastern Conference.
Despite the bad loss, isn’t it kinda cool that both the Bobcats and Hawks are good?
If you need a laugh after this one, The Onion delivers: Shaq Misses Entire Second Half With Pulled Pork Sandwich.
And if you need a Bobcats-related pick-me-up, here’s ESPN’s Marc Stein with the case for Gerald Wallace as an All-Star reserve (he even flirts with the idea of Wallace and Jackson on the squad) and a blurb about Larry Brown and Jackson.
Saturday night’s 7PM home game vs the Magic is the last chance you’ll have to check out the Bobcats at the Cable Box for a couple of week, so let’s fill the place up. Bonus, it’s Nascar Night! After the game the Cats will leave for an important 10-day, 6 game Western Conference road trip.