Bobcats Lose to Bucks 95-88; Highlights and Lowlights
by David A. Arnott on Nov 20, 2009 11:09 PM EST
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PrintThe Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 95-88, powered by a huge first quarter from Brandon Jennings and solid production from Hakim Warrick and Ersan Ilyasova.
We'll have more in the morning, but here are some highlights and lowlights:
BAD
-- Free throws are fast becoming the Cats' most important flaw. Tonight, they had a big advantage in getting to the line, but only shot 26-43 from the charity stripe. That's 61%, folks.
-- Three point shooting is still terrible. Yes, even if they're bad at it, they have to take threes, because otherwise the opposing defense can simply collapse into the lane, but the Cats are so bad at it they must consider severely reducing their three point attempts. 2-13 tonight.
-- The offense did not improve with an increased tempo and pace. (I'm guessing about that. It felt like the pace had increased, but I haven't confirmed.) Fewer possessions in a game provides greater variance in outcomes because each possession means more to the game; it's a reasonable strategy for poor teams to grind the game to a halt. However, increasing the offense's pace and tempo can create a greater advantage if it leads to easier baskets. The Cats seemed to increase the pace a notch, but it's not leading to easier baskets. It seems they're simply taking shots earlier in the shot clock.
-- I suppose it's hardly a bad thing that they couldn't contain Jennings, because few teams have contained him, but I'm still disappointed the Cats' defense has seemed to drop off from the excellent D of the first few games. In addition, Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin were almost comically bad, a combined 1-7 from the field, and Felton had 2 assists. Was that Jennings's defense? Or was it more our guys' ineptitude? I'm not sure.
-- Boris Diaw is probably hurting. He didn't have his normal offensive game, and Warrick and Ilyasova were constantly pounding the Cats inside and outside, respectively. Perhaps it was just the matchups, but I'm concerned over whether or not Diaw's trying to play through a back injury that is hurting his game too much.
-- Gerald Henderson only got a few seconds in the game. What was the point?
GOOD
-- At times, the increased pace worked, and it seemed to benefit Gerald Wallace's offense most. He ended up with 22 points to go with his now-expected 10 rebounds.
-- Stephen Jackson played to the higher end of his abilities, scoring 22 and only turning it over twice.
-- Derrick Brown! 16 minutes for the rook is about 14 more minutes than I could have hoped for him. Awesome.
-- Mad props to the Milwaukee game day crew. I don't know if it was a malfunction or not, but sometime in the second half, I think all in-house sound effects stopped. The PA guy was still going, but there was no music, no chimes, no thumping beat during possessions. Just the sweet sound of a few thousand people cheering along the ebb and flow of a basketball game.
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getting tired
of sitting with the utmost of hope and another pathetic game gets played.
How can the shooting still be SO BAD???!?
Can’t hit 2 consecutive foul shots, can’t hit 3s…that equals no need to guard any shooters and hack anyone that drives…they’ll only hit 1 free throw at most.
They look as bad as Vincent’s crew did…
Gerald Henderson is a pretty decent free throw shooter, and he gets to the line pretty often.....
aww shit, why do I even try? He’s not going to play.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
G needs to play
Well he’s isn’t really that good of a ft shooter, but they really need to let him play 10+ mins a game and see what he is made of. I really think he can add some spark on the offensive end and get to the hoop which is what they need. Give him a shot.
33 seconds tonight? really?
We are loosing the passion to play basketball..
61% free throw? this is not an NBA level
Felton is loosing his confidence… Trade him to get Iverson…
Murray/AI/Jackson will be in 3 guard rotation.. How about that?
Let Brown play more minutes..
It has nothing to do with passion.
This team just isn’t good. And how exactly do we trade for a free agent?
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 21, 2009 3:40 PM EST up reply actions
very carefully.....
And how exactly do we trade for a free agent?
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
though i do agree the we should let Flip be the starting PG at least he can shoot even if he isn't as good of a passer
61% is NBA ft shooting LeBron and Dwight Howard find a way to be that bad
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
I would be fine with Flip starting at PG
With Jackson and Diaw both capable of 4-5 assists per game, we don’t need to start a traditional PG. We need a PG that will make good decisions, not be a turnover machine, and can hit the outside shot consistently.
Do we still have reason to keep FELTON?
Felton can’t shoot..
He can’t give assits..
He can’t depend..
He can only give turnovers…
Pls sign Iverson.. at least he can shoot and create good shots..
Iverson has proved not to be a Point Guard...
I don’t really like Felton much either, but I’m pretty sure AI and S-Jax would be a franchise killing combo.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
felton has to go.... now
he’s an offensive black whole
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
I agree..
Felton has to go.. together with Chandler..
cant believe i spelled hole "whole"
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
A few observations
First of all, this game was over early and wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate. Brandon Jennings showed me two things tonight. First, once we got him figured out he wasn’t the most difficult thing to contain. Second, give him a season to learn how to adjust in this league and he’s going to be and absolute beast. He’s already rough to beat in his comfort moves. Once he learns how to move better to his left and develop a couple of fresh moves to go with his already explosive speed he’s going to be all but unstoppable.
Through some miracle, we managed to weather repeated cold spells in shooting along with sharp bursts of scoring from the Bucks and when we came down to the last minutes we started to make a run. Unlike many other games, where we could have won in the closing minutes had we executed better plays and made our trips to the line count however, we were really a bit too far back to be able to make up the entire deficit.
As others have said, there was no fire in the Bobcats bellies tonight. There was less movement, and overall the Cats were lackluster from box to wire. When roughly 80% of your scoring comes from 3 players it’s a good indicator that the rest of the team putting forth squat in the effort department.
Sometimes a team just gets so used to losing that they forget how to win. The Cats reek of that attitude right now. They need a couple of good wins to remind themselves that they are indeed capable of some strong games.
Iverson is starting to look a lot more attractive as an option and that in and of itself speaks volumes for this team. If the boys don’t snap out of it – and fast – we’re going to be sitting with the Nets next summer hoping our picture is on the first bingo ball to pop out of the lottery machine.
Next we have Indiana and Cleveland is looming on the near horizon, so regaining our confidence for any extended stretch is going to be even harder in the near future.
It’s a tough time to be a Bobcat fan.
At the rate we are playing...
it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have our picture pop up on the first bingo ball…and then hopefully organization will be smart enough to draft John Wall and blow rest of the roster up and build around him..I cant keep watching the game they way I did last night we looked pathetic…I personally think LB is gonna get tired of this roster sooner then later and will make some trades..hopefully we can land a legitimate PG that can run the offense or simply just dump all the bad contracts..
How does buying out contracts work? I’m not sure about it and would that be a good option for us?
Not about effort...
The majority of this roster just sucks.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 21, 2009 3:41 PM EST up reply actions
we can't trade Gerald
he really should be untouchable just because of the effort he gives every night just doing the dirty work
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
Agree!!!
Without Gerald the Cats would become the worst NBA franchise. He’s the first and last reason to watch them right now.
exactly we already traded away our other original player
what message does it send to the other players if you trade away a player that has played for this team for 6 years and plays hard all the time gets traded. That really sends a bad message i think.
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
Time for a change at PG
It’s not all the pgs’ fault, but Flip has played like a starter the past couple of games and we might as well see what Acie Law brings to the table. It’s not like we’d be losing any production.
I’ve supported but Ray and D.J. in the past (supported doesn’t mean ignore their flaws), but they really are sucking it up right now. Why not deactivate them for a game? We still have Flip, Jax, Henderson, and Acie. LB probably wants to be careful about ruining Ray and D.J.‘s confidence but we couldn’t be any worse on the court.
DJ's never been given a chance as the 1st-string PG.
Why don’t you see if he can run the offense, as Felton has proven over and over he can’t.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 21, 2009 3:42 PM EST up reply actions
yea because it's everybody but D.J.'s fault that he sucks right now?
Your backwards logic never ceases to amaze me.
WTF FELTON WENT TO CAROLINA HE SHOULD BE GOOD
2005 draft class was the worst ever. Tarheels are some ass
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
I still think the Bobcats should have drafted Wayne Ellington...
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
What's Jeff McInnis doing?
He could easily be the answer to our problems at the 1.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 22, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions
factual.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 23, 2009 9:58 AM EST up reply actions
Last I heard, he was in Europe....
working at a Burger King there.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
Where does that question come from?
It’s certainly not implied in my statement.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 22, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions
3 games in a row
The Bobcats have lost by less points than free throw they have missed. Hits your free throws, win the game. Then they’re sitting at 6-5 not 3-8
Free F'ing Throws
Yes as said numerous times above, if we hit free throws, we win, nuff said…
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S. Thompson
by mad_dog_maddux on Nov 21, 2009 11:03 AM EST reply actions
Even if we hit those free throws...
are both of u guys satisfied with the way this team is playing?
They have played HORRIBLY
and still been in every game (almost) with a chance to win. Imagine if they played well….
No way am I satisfied with our inept offense, but crazily enough they were still in many of their losses.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S. Thompson
by mad_dog_maddux on Nov 21, 2009 1:35 PM EST up reply actions
Philly game was close but not last night...
I wouldn’t consider last night game close b/c Bucks took their foot of the paddle after they built 16 point lead and they would’ve been lot more aggresive if the game was close…but Philly game was def close and we should have won that game…and don’t get me wrong we should def we making those free throws…but this team has bigger problems then just free throws…turnovers, PG play and 3 pointers to name few
If the Cats had been hittinthere free throws
…they wouldn’t have gotten down by 16 points to begin with!
It all boils down to doing the simple things right almost every time.
THIS a million times over..
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Hunter S. Thompson
by mad_dog_maddux on Nov 22, 2009 9:14 AM EST up reply actions
What are our chances of landing Devin Harris??
I am sure NJ wants to dump his contract inorder to land Lebron and Wade…but I am not sure how the cap would work out…but I sure as hell think he would solve lots of our problems…what do u guys think?
If you really think the nets would part with him...
then I think he’d be a great pick-up. Even better if could shed Felton and Chandler in the process.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
Dont take my word for it...just brianstorming to see what we can do to improve this team
I don’t see why they wouldn’t try to clear as much cap space as possible in order to sign 2 superstars…plus at the rate they are going they are probably gonna get first pick and draft John Wall which would be lot cheaper option for them…
I don’t think they are gonna take Chandler contract but Felton would be perfect for them b/c he is only signed for this year…
i honestly think the team would be better off getting rid of Chandler and Felton and letting DJ/Flip run the point
and letting Nazr start at C and Anjinca backing him up with Derrick Brown getting more minutes
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
better or just as well off
not to mention the salary cap space (depending on who they get in return)
Gerald Wallace is the best player the Bobcats will have..... EVER
I certainly don't think they're eager to dump a franchise PG.
If anything, they’d do a sign-and-trade were Wade on the way.
Remember when the Panthers had a good offensive line? Yeah, me too.
--Darin Gantt
by MichaelProcton on Nov 21, 2009 3:43 PM EST up reply actions
Be patient, it's coming
Hey guys, I’m a Warriors fan (and blogger), and just wanted to throw my two cents in here. I love Stephen Jackson as a player, and am convinced he was the missing piece you needed to get into the playoffs. I think the effect he will have on the Bobcats is being severely discounted, and have started betting the Bobcats to cover. I give the full rationale for this in my blog, if you’re interested. The Bobcats are now 0-3 since Jackson came aboard, but they are 2-1 against the spread. They were +4 last night and lost by 7, but I regard that as a somewhat flukey outcome since they were 26-43 from the line.
Felton and Augustin are in a strange funk right now, but I don’t expect it to last. When the team gets home and gets a few practices in I think they will start to click. It would be nice, of course, if Chandler could find a way to stay healthy, but I don’t think it matters. The Bobcats are going to be very, very good before its over.
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