Charlotte Bobcats vs Grizzlies, 1/9/10
Whew!
Gerald Wallace tipped in the game winner at the buzzer to give the Charlotte Bobcats an 89-87 win over the Memphis Grizzlies at the Cable Box on Saturday night. AP recap here, box score here.
After a roller-coaster fourth quarter that featured two huge Flip Murray threes, some inexcusable missed free throws by both teams, and an amazing Gerald Wallace block of an OJ Mayo layup, Mayo was able to hit a game-tying three with 8.8 seconds left, 87-87. Out of the timeout, the ball went to Raymond Felton.
Felton started his move on DeMarre Carroll with a few seconds left, but Carroll played tough D, pushing Raymond to his right and never allowing him into the lane. Felton had to throw up a wild runner that missed everything long, but Gerald Wallace was crashing the boards from the opposite side. Crash timed his jump perfectly, rose up over everybody, caught the miss cleanly and dumped it back into the basket before time expired for the win.
The Bobcats were frankly lucky to have the opportunity to win this one. Some old bugaboos came back into play: turnovers (18) and missed layups (at least 10) were aplenty. Stephen Jackson had a poor game statistically (6-20 FG, 0-3 3PT, 6 turnovers) and the bench (save Flip Murray) didn’t play all that well. The Cats were down by as much as 13 late in the second quarter; they chipped away during the third and finally evened things up halfway through the fourth.
The Grizzlies are one of the league’s pleasant surprises thus far and they showed why tonight. Even without starting PG Mike Conley (Marcus Williams got the start) they looked good. OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol looked like a cohesive bunch. Hasheem Thabeet even made himself useful with a couple of blocks and a perfect 2-2 FG/2-2 FT night. The bench is kinda bare, though.
Bullets
- The Cats improve to 13-4 at home, 16-19 overall; that’s good for 7th place in the Eastern Conference.
- Any Baseliners struggling with their weight might want to get up with Marc Gasol. Dude’s personal trainer/nutritionist/chef situation is on point, as he’s gone from Stanley Roberts-esque to Pau Gasol-esque since last year.
- Tweet of the night comes from Nazr Mohammed: “I’ve played on a couple of teams & with a few allstars. G Wallace is having that type of season. It would b a travesty if he doesn’t make it” Right on, Naz.
- Next game is Tuesday night, the Cats are hosting another pleasant surprise from the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets at 7PM ET.