It’s the only name I can think of to both identify what happened last night and what NEEDS to happen immediately in order for the Bobcats to get it together and be successful on this road trip.

The Cats kept it competitive throughout the first half despite several costly turnovers. Boris Diaw started out the game blowing hot and cold, showing flashes of the more motivated Diaw we’ve seen lately but ultimately slipping into his old habit of standing around on the perimeter instead of moving without the ball. The team struggled both offensively and at the defensive end in the third quarter and the Nuggets exploited the shaky play by outscoring Charlotte for the quarter by 7 points. The Bobcats regained some of their composure at the start of the 4th quarter, but their efforts at a comeback were never really a threat. Raymond Felton drove to the hoops several times in the 4th only to be overwhelmed by the Nuggets big men in the middle. Part of the margin of victory for Denver came from the Bobcats missing 8 free throws. Most of it was brought about by a downpour of 3-pointers including 6 out of 7 by Arron Afflalo who wound up with 24 points.

On the injury front, Gerald Wallace is either feeling much better, or he’s decided to prove that he only needs one ankle to compete with the mere mortals in the NBA. After a substandard performance on Saturday night, the Predator poured in 20 points, including a pair of pretty 3-pointers. Sadly, Raymond Felton is obviously still struggling although you’d never know it from his determined expression and his stubborn refusal to give in to his apparent pain. His determination to be a factor was reflected in his amazing 9 assists. But even the most cynical of us know that Ray is capable of more than his 2 of 8 shooting and paultry 3 rebounds. His injury was reflected even more at the defensive end where neither he nor DJ Augustin could find an answer for Chauncey Billups who could seemingly score at will. Billups looked 10 years younger last night and finished up with 27 points and 11 assists.

Somehow, maybe on the flight out to Denver, the Bobcats slipped in a time warp and became the October Charlotte Bobcats instead of the exciting team we’ve become used to seeing. Old habits resurfaced and made the game painful to watch at times. Raymond Felton tried to assume control of the game late but was unable to score down low. We left too many points on the free throw line, and while 15 turnovers isn’t quite the nightmare of the 20+ per night we USED to average, it was still far more than the team racks up when firing on all cylinders. Diaw spent much of his time standing on the perimeter so he was receiving passes at the top of the key instead of in the middle of the paint where he could finish. For some reason – I’m blaming Felton’s ankle problem – the Bobcats failed to guard the perimeter and gave up wide open 3-pointers all night long allowing the Nuggets to score more than half of their points on jumpers. All season long the Bobcats have played brutal defense, giving up a very stingy 93 points per game. But last night the Nuggets rained down 84 points by the end of the third quarter.

It was like watching the Bobcats of old with only rare flashes of the cohesion that allowed the team to claw its way above .500.

Things have to come together quickly. This road trip, brutal to begin with because of the quality of the competition, is stacked against us further by the schedule that gives the team precious little chance to catch its breath between games. We need to find a way to get back the mojo we had as recently as a week ago or this is going to be a nightmare week.

Does anyone have a DeLorean or a flux capacitor we can borrow?