Charlotte Bobcats @ Bucks, 2/20/10
A night after a rousing victory over the Cavaliers, the Bobcats fell on the road to the Milwaukee Bucks 93-88 on Saturday. AP recap here, box score here. The Cats have fallen back to .500 at 27-27.
Like they frequently do on the road, the Cats came out flat, falling behind by 10 early and 15 by half. Behind a balanced attack of Brandon Jennings, Andrew Bogut and John Salmons, the Bucks eventually extended their lead to 20 early in the third quarter. Raymond Felton and DJ Augustin both had trouble keeping the lightning-fast Jennings in front of them, while failing to make Jennings play much defense by shooting a combined 3-16 FG.
Midway through the third quarter the Bobcats began chipping away behind Stephen Jackson, who would finish with a game-high 35 points on 14-25 FG. Tyrus Thomas was again a force inside, finishing with 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The Cats would eventually cut the Bucks lead down to three at 86-83 with 2:20 left on a Jackson layup, but couldn’t get any closer. After a Carlos Delfino free throw increased the Bucks lead to four, Steven Jackson committed a completely unforced turnover to end the Cats comeback bid. Jackson simply lost his dribble, giving John Salmons the easiest steal he’s ever had. Worse yet, Jack grabbed Salmons for a clear path foul, which really ended things.
Bric-A-Brac
- This was a particularly bad night for the Bobcats not to show up on the road. The race for the 6-8th playoff spots in the East is between the Bulls, Heat, Bobcats and Bucks. After the loss, the Bobcats are clinging to the 8th spot, just one game ahead of the Bucks.
- Additionally, with the loss, the Cats lost the chance to hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bucks. The Bucks now lead the season series 2-1 with one game (April 4th) to go.
- Nazr looks really limited by his back. We really could have used his low-post scoring to weather the cold start. Maybe he can get his hands on some medicinal marijuana out in LA to loosen it up.
- Next game is Monday night against the Clippers, 10:30 PM ET start.