Gameday Preview Charlotte Bobcats vs. Chicago Bulls

Noah scares the crap out of me. He’s the kind of guy I’d find praiseworthy enough to buy a shirt with his number on it if he played for the Cats. But he plays for the Bulls and therefore I despise him as the enemy. I noticed him in the playoffs last season and saw real beast potential there if he polished up his game and learned to use his body effectively. He’s not really done either of those things based on what I’ve seen this season – at least not to what I believe to be his full potential. But he has taken enough steps in that direction that he can terrorize an opponent if given even a slight window of opportunity. I think he will be the big key to victory tonight. If we shut him down early we won’t need to worry about him catching fire late. He cooked the Cats pretty well earlier this year and I’m hoping that LB spent some time working with the defense in preparation for tonight. Even if it means a substandard offensive performance from Crash tonight, it’s essential that he and Diop (assuming Chandler is still out as expected) box Noah out and prevent him from padding his numbers with those damned tip-ins. In the last meeting it was Noah and his second-chance points that really forced the Cats to change their normal defensive strategy in the second half and it caused us to leave the perimeter unguarded for a lot of open shots. If we plan well enough in advance to have adjusted assignments for Noah from the outset we should be able to avoid that problem this time.

Obviously the other priority involves tearing a page from OKC and shutting down the lanes so Derrick Rose can’t tear us up with quick cuts to the hole.

The plus side is that the Bulls haven’t won the back end of a back-to-back all season. In fact, they’ve been blown out by an average 20 point plus margin in those situations, so although these teams look pretty close on paper, energy may be a big liability for the Bulls once the second half gets rolling. I expect a lot of determination from Chicago in the early going that they may not be able to maintain for the full 48.

In the last outing they took us 93-90 but that was in the pre-Jax days. It will be interesting to gauge the impact Jackson will have on Bulls defenders. It’s a young team and Jax’s experience may be enough to give them fits should they try to cover him man to man instead of forcing him to work the seams in a zone.

This is one we need to win – especially with a long trip out West looming on the horizon. For the next half-dozen games we have a solid chance to run up a nice winning streak if we just keep the intensity level high. Our opponents for this week – Chicago and New York CAN beat us, but they shouldn’t.

Especially when they played the night before. Hopefully, Jackson & Co. won’t have to make love to any pressure tonight. The Bulls can definitely beat the Cats, but the stars seemed to be aligned for a Bobcat victory.

Noah scares the crap out of me. He’s the kind of guy I’d find praiseworthy enough to buy a shirt with his number on it if he played for the Cats. But he plays for the Bulls and therefore I despise him as the enemy.

You and David are like many people with respect to Noah: regardless of whether it is hate, love or something else, Joakim Noah ratchets an emotional response from you. He is talented and an exciting player to watch, no doubt. I was disappointed that neither he nor his UF teamate Al Horford did not end up as a Bobcat.

That being said — I hope the ’Cats even funkier named center duo or Nazr Mohmamed & Desagna Diop take it to his obnoxious, punk ass something proper like tonight!

He’s a goofy bastard. He gets overly emotional about trivial crap, ie. he makes a layup and he yells, he fist pumps. This isn’t to say he’s not good, which he is. I just don’t like him one bit. Oh and I hate Florida. The only time I liked Noah was when he clotheslined rondo last year and that’s because I hate the Celtics more

They just don’t have anybody affordable to replace him. I will say, though, that it’s tough not to "jerk "a guy as inconsistent in his effort and performance as Tyrus Thomas.