Bobcats Hang On For Third Straight Win

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Charlotte Bobcats vs Bulls, 1/5/10

3-0 in 2010

The Charlotte Bobcats won their third straight by defeating the Chicago Bulls 113-108 on Tuesday night at the Cable Box.  AP recap here, box score here.  The Bobcats led by as much as 13 in the second quarter and 11 late in the third, but Derrick Rose almost singlehandedly brought the Bulls back.  The last of his 5 fourth-quarter buckets tied the game at 105 with two minutes left, but the Bobcats went 8-8 from the line from there to seal the deal.

Gerald Wallace led the way with 32 points (10-16 FG, 2-3 3PT, 10-11 FT), 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block.  Yes, 32 points on just 16 shots.  Can we get this guy an All-Star jersey?  Over the past few games, Gerald has added a new wrinkle to his game that’s been surprisingly effective: he’s taking and making 18-20 foot catch-and-shoot jumpers curling off a screen like he’s Rip Hamilton or something.  He was 2-2 on that shot in this game by my count.

Stephen Jackson continued to “make love to pressure” by hitting 2-2 free throws with 17 seconds left after the Bulls had cut the lead to one; he finished with 25 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists/0 turnovers.  Flip Murray added 25 points off the bench on 8-12 FG, 3-5 3PT and 6-7 FT.

Overall, the Cats continued to take better care of the ball, committing only 13 turnovers.

Bullets

  • The Bobcats are currently in 7th place in the Eastern Conference.
  • Like this idea?  I love it.
  • Statistical anomalies: the Bobcats only recorded 1 offensive rebound; Boris Diaw had 5 blocks.
  • Raymond Felton hit a half-court shot at the 3rd quarter buzzer — in a close game those three points ended up being huge.
  • I alluded to it above, but Derrick Rose was unstoppable for much of the fourth quarter.  He was cooking the Bobcats on the high screen and roll by getting around the corner and easily knifing through the rest of the defense for easy layups.  In the crucial closing minutes, the Bobcats did a better job of showing hard on the high screen and roll, forcing Rose to give the ball up.
  • In the 2013-14 season, Luol Deng is due 14.3 million — will that be the worst contract in the league by that point?  Very possible.
  • Surprisingly decent crowd on a frigid Tuesday night in Charlotte; still lots of empties everywhere, but there were butts in the upper deck seats.  This would seem to indicate that the casual Charlotte fan may be starting to notice that we’ve got a likely playoff team here.
  • Sorry about the lack of tweets, the wifi in the Cable Box was especially janky tonight, and despite the fact that there’s a huge AT&T building within a block of the arena, I get little to no signal in the building.  Ironic, huh?
  • Next game is Thursday night against the Knicks at MSG — 7:30 PM ET start.

-Dr. E

11 thoughts on “Bobcats Hang On For Third Straight Win”

  3. Jared

    Why don't you guys do more than game recaps? I liked reading a lot of the posts over the offseason. Plus it'd be nice to have a discussion a new discussion outlet. Rufus and BCP run the same old topics into the ground.

  4. Newsinz

    Bill Simmons' trade suggestion would be a no brainer for us; but honestly, what's in it for Utah? Is getting under the salary tax so important that they'd give up a double/double lock at power forward in exchange for an outside shot of Diaw returning to form as an aggressive, dynamic facilitator? Is Utah just afraid that Boozer will walk for nothing after this season?

  6. Newsinz: agreed that it certainly doesn't make Utah any better from a basketball perspective. But three things: 1) they are looking shaky for the playoffs, 2) they are over the luxury tax threshold, a big no-no if you aren't contending for the Finals, and 3) they know they aren't resigning Boozer – he's made that abundantly clear. He would have opted out this past offseason were it not for the terrible economy.

    So it's not completely ridiculous. But it's never going to happen, because the Bobcats could never pull off a trade this great.

  7. Jared-

    Thanks for the input.

    The reason that we're only running recaps is because I've been AWOL working on a film project over the last six weeks or so.

    Dr. E has been logging more minutes than Stephen Jackson in the meantime.

    We'll have more non-recap content as we get closer to the All-Star break.

    Jody-

    This is a good topic for a non-recap post:

    "Where's Reggie?"

    My guess? Somewhere writing a one man stage-play entitled: "Alexis Ajinca: of Men & Beasts"

  9. Reggie & the Red Claws?

    I just read the book about Bird and Magic called "When The Game Was Ours." There's some good stuff about Stephen Jackon in there. Of course, they had to cover Bird's reaction to the Detroit brawl. Still Bird makes the effort to paint Jack in a positive light. He mentions that Jackson wanted to play for the minimum, if the Pacers would have had him that year he went to Atlanta. Indiana eventually acquired him after realizing how they missed out.

    Then, he went on to punch a Pistons fan in the face.

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