Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first:

AN OPEN LETTER TO TYSON CHANDLER
Dear Tyson;

We are the devoted fans of the Charlotte Bobcats. At Rufus on Fire we spend our days reveling in all things associated with the finest, super-duperest up and comingest NBA team in the world that happens to be part-owned by Michael Jordan. Because you are a part of the Bobcats organization you are frequently a big part of our conversations. Recently we have been very concerned about your back spasms. We all know that a back spasm can really ruin your day when you are trying to keep a pesky opponent from scoring by subtly stuffing your elbow into his ribs as he drives the lane. It can also cause quite a bit of confusion when in polite conversation with the referee. After all, how is he going to know that the stream of profanity flowing from your lips was because of the pain in your back and not directed at him for being a pain in a somewhat lower part of your anatomy?
Anyway, when we tuned in to watch the game against the Pacers tonight we learned that you were ready to play right up until a few minutes before the game and decided the pain was too severe to risk it. We, your truest and bluest fans, were very disturbed to learn of this and wanted to let you know one thing. Even if it means we must suffer through repeated 18 point performances by Nazr Mohammed where he winds up with more rebounds and less fouls than you normally do we’re willing to endure it. Don’t you even think of coming back one day too soon from your crippling injury. By gosh, even if you have to sit out the entire rest of the season in order to be 100% certain that your back is okay, you go ahead and do it and don’t worry about us. We promise to be patient and we won’t get mad. Your health is what’s important. Seriously. We really mean it. Sure it means we’ll have to go with a smaller lineup. We understand that it means our reserve center will be getting into the game upwards of 4 full minutes earlier in the first quarter than he normally does and it will require him participating in the opening tip-off. We’ll deal with it. We’ll deal with it because we care and we wanted to let you know exactly how we feel about you and your contribution to our playoff hopes for this season.

Sincerely,
Your devoted fanbase

It sure feels good to win one, doesn’t it? The Bobcats improved in almost every single area they needed to. One game does not a turnaround make, but for at least one night we did what we needed to do. We boarded better, improved on our turnovers a bit, lifted our free-throw percentage, and continued to better our hideous field goal percentage as well. Not everything was perfect – there’s room for more improvement at the line and in our overall shooting, and although our point guards played better, there are still some mighty big issues. Nevertheless, the Bobcats demonstrated that they do know how to play ball and are on an official winning streak of 1. Our next opponents will be coming into town the night after facing the same Pacer team we played today. They’ll be flying in from Canada and facing a well-rested Bobcats squad. The stars are aligned for us to have a decent shot at bringing a mini win streak into next weekend’s home/away back to back against Cleveland and Washington.

One of the more notable things that occurred today was that the team weathered a couple of runs by the Pacers and didn’t fall into another famous Bobcats cold spell. They won solidly, and never fell apart effort-wise.

The big question is whether or not the team can build on the solid play and momentum they displayed today. If the same team shows up to play the Raptors on Wednesday that we saw this afternoon it could well be the start of the comeback we’ve been waiting for. Although some here at Rufus are certain it will require the team to finish with more than 40 wins to make the playoffs this season, realistically a 40 win year would not only get us in the playoffs, but likely land the team a 6 or 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. At present only 6 teams in the East are above the .500 mark. I’m not naïve enough to let one encouraging victory rekindle thoughts of a playoff run, I’m only pointing out that if the team plays most of its games with the intensity displayed today it is premature to write the entire year off as a loss. We’ll need to play .500 ball the rest of the season to be solidly in the hunt and it is a doable, although unlikely, achievement. If, one week from now, we’ve beaten Toronto and Washington and managed to keep it interesting against the Cavs, I think we can be fairly sure that today represents a solidifying trend for the team rather than just a fluke.

might as well get brandon jennings while were at it.