Gerald Wallace via Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images
The Bobcats eked out their second victory of the season on Wednesday night in Toronto, defeating the Raptors 101-96. Gerald Wallace had a fantasy-owner’s dream game with 19 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, while Tyrus Thomas and Stephen Jackson owned the deciding fourth quarter.
And while I shouldn’t minimize any road victory for a team that struggled to win double-digit road games all of last season, I just can’t get too excited about this one. The Raps are a toothless team that plays no defense (Cats shot 50% tonight and got to the line 33 times) and announces Jarrett Jack as the fifth starter in its pregame introductions. Furthermore, they were without one of their better players, Leandro Barbosa, who sat out with an injury. And the Cats barely managed the W.
Observations
- DJ Augustin had a nice game with 16 points (3-5 3pt), 3 steals and 7 assists/1 turnover. Gerald Henderson had 10 points off the bench.
- Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw are turnover machines. I’ve beat around the bush in the past, passive-aggressively noting their turnover numbers several times in game recaps (4 and 6 tonight, respectively). But let’s be direct: these guys force way too many bad passes. You can excuse it by saying that they’re expected to be playmakers in this offense, and that they occasionally do produce easy buckets for their teammates. And you’d be right — Jack in particular had a great assist to Ty in crunchtime to help seal the win. But if you’re looking for some specific issues that Cats could shore up in order to dig out from their poor start this season, look no further than Boris and Jack’s “wishful thinking” types of passes.
- Matt Carroll! Matt Carroll! To all the Matt Carroll fanboys who somehow survived Carroll’s stint in Dallas, and still roam the Cable Box now free to again yell “Matt Carroll!… Matt Carroll!… Matt Carroll!” whenever the Bobcats need a bucket: I give you… Matt Carroll! In his first action of the season, Carroll got 4 minutes of burn in the second quarter and hit his only field goal attempt.
- Box Score issues. What was up with the online box scores for this game? ESPN.com’s was so buggy, they eventually just took in offline at some point during the game. And Yahoo’s froze sometime during the second half.
-Dr. E
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Gerald Henderson: Future 2011 NBA All-Star
I’m a big Henderson fan, too. He’s working hard, moving fast, and making the most of his minutes. He really is the counterbalance to Stephen Jackson, right now.
Jack holds the ball, moves slowly on both sides of the floor, and handles the ball carelessly. Gerald seems to be doing the opposite over the last few games. Hopefully, he continues to improve at this rate.
The Bobcats might be able to continue to lean on Henderson for his defense and energy early in the game, until Jackson turns it on in the 4th (which seems to be his game, now).
What is up with Jack? Very poor start…a bit concerning.