Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats vs. Phoenix Suns

by David Arnott on Jan 16, 2010 11:10 AM EST Comment 8 comments

(If you're interested in doing the gameday preview for Monday's game against Sacramento, write it up and send an email to rufusonfireblog@gmail.com following the established format. Music. Big Picture. Keys to Victory. Detail. Include your username for proper credit. Deadline will be roughly 9am the day of the game.)

Pump Up Music: Digital Underground -- "The Humpty Dance"

The Big Picture: The Phoenix Suns are coming off a buzzer beater loss to the Hawks last night. I don't really put much stock in the notion of game to game momentum, but that was certainly a heartbreaking loss, and now they have to come to Charlotte, where the Bobcats are 15-4.

The same principle applies to the Cats. We just watched them come out in the second half and utterly shut down the Spurs to the point that Greg Popovich twice called time out to scream at his starters before benching them for the final five minutes. The Suns provide a different challenge, but it's still a challenge. The Cats aren't good enough to beat playoff contenders on their off nights unless they get extremely lucky, so we've got to hope for the same kind of domination from Gerald Wallace, swagger from Stephen Jackson, scrap from Boris Diaw, and mistake-free decision-making from Raymond Felton that we've been getting the past week or so in order to keep winning.

Key to Victory: The Suns' best lineups allow the Bobcats to put their best players on the floor in a smallball configuration, with Diaw at the nominal center, guarding Channing Frye or Amar'e Stoudemire. I expect the Cats to come out in a conventional look, with Felton on Nash, Jax on Richardson, et cetera, eventually shifting to Jax on Hill and Ronald Murray on Richardson.

It won't happen, but I'd love to see what Jax could do guarding Nash, shifting Felton over to Richardson. That would force Nash to deal with Jax's length and tempt Richardson to post up the shorter Felton, which is not really what J-Rich does well.

Detail That May Interest .08% of You: Jared Dudley(!) still leads the league in three point shooting percentage at 48%.

0 recs | Comment 8 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Bravo..

I was actually singing this song about 3 weeks ago…

Always liked it. Just a funny song…

by andrewlail76 on Jan 16, 2010 11:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

and this game puts up on top of the hump...

the .500 hump!
If we win

by andrewlail76 on Jan 16, 2010 11:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

keys to the game

Boris Diaw. He knows the system. He knows how to defend it. He puts forth the same effort we’ve been seeing and the Bobcats are going to be a tough team to beat anywhere. Jack is really stepping and becoming a leader on and off the court. I’m really surprised to see what a positive impact he’s had on the players for this team. One other tidbit I’d like to add about our recent fortunes. The lack of Tyson Chandler. Not necessarily HIM, but the lack of his turn overs in the paint and overall offensive clumsiness. I honestly think we’re much better off without him. Especially if we can get 7-11 rebounds a game from Boris(like we should be anyway). Defending Steve Nash and the Suns’ ability to shoot 3’s will be key in winning this game. Key to the game will be the same as last night. Slow it down. Stop them from running and play the game OUR way.

"ANOTHER Iowa running back down!"-any sports caster

by HAWKEYESBABY on Jan 16, 2010 11:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

crap.

I said “key” a few too many times there. yeesh. sorry i’m at work and had little sleep haha.

"ANOTHER Iowa running back down!"-any sports caster

by HAWKEYESBABY on Jan 16, 2010 11:26 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Stephen Jackson

needs 14 pts to reach 10000 point milestone.

by MR. MANN on Jan 16, 2010 12:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Old cats

Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley tonight. On Monday we get Sean May.

by Ft.Mill Bobcat on Jan 16, 2010 2:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I can see it now...

Sean: “Guys I’ve missed you so much. We used to spend so much time together in this arena! How’ve you been?”
Bench chairs: “We miss you too Sean. Though we have younger, lighter guys since you left, which is nice on our legs.”

Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is.

by WhatAboutBob_cats on Jan 16, 2010 2:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm..

“The Cats aren’t good enough to beat playoff contenders on their off nights unless they get extremely lucky, so we’ve got to hope for the same kind of domination from Gerald Wallace, swagger from Stephen Jackson, scrap from Boris Diaw, and mistake-free decision-making from Raymond Felton that we’ve been getting the past week or so in order to keep winning.”

While I would have agreed with this completely a month ago, I think our current hot streak belies this statement. We need two-three of the four players mentioned above to show up in order to beat playoff contenders. Felton had a stinker last night and Jax was pretty ineffective and we killed the Spurs. In other recent games Diaw has disappeared or GW has been held under 10 pts and Jax, Felton and others have stepped up.
We’re winning with defense (still can’t figure out exactly how considering our utter lack of shot blocking potential from our bigs) and timely offense (read not the same guy every night). And I think the ’Cats can give any team in the league a good game on a good night, whether the other team is on it or not.

by BustaCard on Jan 16, 2010 3:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs