Bobcats Fade Against Blazers, Lose 98-79
by David A. Arnott on Feb 2, 2010 12:28 AM EST
11 comments
The Bobcats had no answer for LaMarcus Aldridge, and the Trail Blazers rode him to victory, 98-79. Aldridge finished with 17 points on 13 attempts, and it certainly felt like they should have fed him the ball more, because the Cats had no one who could effectively guard him. To be fair, there might only be a couple players in the world who can truly contest his fallaway jumper, but that doesn't change that he's too quick for Nazr Mohammed and too tall for Boris Diaw. Secondarily, Nicolas Batum had a solid game off the bench, scoring 15 points and getting 9 boards in only 25 minutes.
Game thread comments, highlights, and lowlights after the jump.
GAME THREAD COMMENTS
StudMuffin15 -- i wouldn't mind having the PA guy at games saying "boom-shaka-laka" after every GW dunk.
WhatAboutBob_cats -- i think it’s funny that before every game I think I don’t have a problem with the team we’re playing. Then in the 3rd and 4th quarter I’ve developed intense hatred of our opponents.
Misc -- French translations and Greg Oden
BAD
-- If your opponent shoots better than 50% from the field, you're likely going to lose. That'll be more likely to happen when Aldridge goes 8-13, Batum goes 7-10, and Jerryd Bayless goes 6-10.
-- 20 turnovers is a disappointing turn from a recent trend. Where the Cats were turning it over 10-12 times in recent games, those extra turnovers this time around helped put this game away before the Cats could think about beginning to mount a comeback.
-- Our point guards took it on the chin tonight. Felton shot 3-10, Augustin went 0-5, and they combined for 5 assists. Ouch.
GOOD
-- Even in defeat, Gerald Wallace contributes. He scored 17 points on 10 attempts from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds.
-- The Bobcats got to the line again and again, and made their free throws. They finished the game 21-24 from the line.
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This was a tough loss...
but it’s hard to get down by 7-12 points every game and come crawling back in the second half. At some point, you’re not going to make it up that hill.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
Turnovers on the road are tough.
Pretty much no one outside of Wallace played well offensively, and he probably didn’t get enough touches.
by Spider Jerusalem on Feb 2, 2010 12:40 AM EST reply actions
Still, being in position to go 3-3 on a West coast road trip is a massive improvement.
Can’t be too disappointed.
by Spider Jerusalem on Feb 2, 2010 12:40 AM EST up reply actions
Well this kinda sucks
Coupled with the loss, it turns out my paper isn’t due until Thursday. Maybe I’ll start working on it tomorrow so I won’t be too pressured during the Lakers game
Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is.
by WhatAboutBob_cats on Feb 2, 2010 12:45 AM EST reply actions
That's a good idea.
You’re no doubt already 2-3 Red Bulls deep, there is no point in bailing now.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
Oh Yeah, and this was a tough loss, but a hella good in-game thread.
Blogging at Ridiculous Upside, where my terrible writing meets people's eyes.
Bobcats got caught in a trap!
I felt this one coming. Potentially they were looking past tonight in anticipation of LA. I thought the Cats would be in for a tough one tonight, however, i also thought they’d put up a better fight.
Lets move on, and put whipping on the Lakers!
totally agree with Spider
this is a huge improvement on the road. We’re nearing the end of it, tired, and looking to be over .500 again before the all star break. The future is still very bright for this Bobcats team. I’m overjoyed at our progress.
"Smokey this isn't 'Nam this is bowling. There are rules!"
Lets be Honest
This is a Bobcats team, that even when they were SMOKING teams at home, people STILL were trying to say they were gonna crap out on the road. And they have done ANYTHING but that. Granted last night was rough. Not only did Augustine and Felton forget how to shoot the ball, it looked like Diaw couldn’t do anything right either. He almost looked like he didn’t want the ball and would do anything to get rid of it (Even throw it out of bounds if neccessary).
But just like you guys were saying, this has been long road trip, and overall, our cats have been playing killer. I think they have a real chance in L.A. And as long as they can play like this game never happened, and get some time to relax and refuel before Weds, they will be in great shape. Even if they LOSE, they still come back with a 500 record on this road trip, so either way, you can’t complain about this trip to much. I think were all proud of our guys taking the show on the road.
On a lighter note, how many of you guys have seen the movie Happy Gilmore? Do you guys remember the scene where Happy is playing Shooter and he makes that really nice putt, and he looks over at Shooter and says in a real high pitch voice: “Uh oh, Happy learned how to putt.” As I’ve been watching this road trip (With the exclusion of last night of course) I just wanna look at a Bobcat hater, raise my voice about 9 octaves, and be like “Uh oh. Bobcats learned how to win away from home.”
lol
Last night was a let-down game.
Not as much for us, as it was for the Bobcats.
The players have the same goals the fans have. They had to start proving themselves on the road – not just to the league but to each other. Whever the press has asked about the road woes the answer has always been the same – regardless which player was being questioned. Jackson, Wallace, even Larry Brown have expressed confusion about why certain aspects of their gameplan tend to fall apart whenever they leave Charlotte. It’s like suddenly the free throw miseries and turnover problems the team handles well at home come roaring back to life. Players that have shown motivation and drive fall into the old habit of standing around or dishing the ball off even when presented with a wide open lane to the hoop or an uncontested shot. Yeah Boris, I’m talking about you. Do you need a French translation? How do you say “move your ass!” in French?
So we start the toughest road trip of the season with a convincing 3-1 run. Coach Brown said well before the players began packing for the trip that the goal was to achieve .500 for these 6 games. I think that once the guys achieved that goal they relaxed just a bit and lost some of their intensity. I’m not talking about our 3 heroes. They bring it every night and don’t know how to ease up on the throttle. I’m talking about the rest of the squad. It showed the most in Diaw’s lack of intensity, but others were affected as well. In addition, just like us here at ROF, they were already thinking about the Lakers. The Bobcats are all professionals, but they’re also human. They can’t help but get excited about the idea of taking their new-found swagger to LA. They’ve given the Lakers fits from day one. How exciting is it to come into the Staples Center with the best squad in Bobcats history?
I guess I share Dudeman’s opinion about what happened Monday night. I’m also a bit nervous that we may come into LA a bit overconfident and cocky, but we’ll find out soon enough.
Win or lose, the team has a lot to be proud of already and the rest of the season should be just as exciting.
by Ourdaywillcome on Feb 2, 2010 3:49 PM EST up reply actions
Blazer fan here, promise I'm not gloating
Your guys came out flat, it happens, but the difference between this team from last year to now is night and day. Portland is a strange team to prepare against, especially with all the injuries. We are either a jumpshooting fiasco, or a good team.
Our best defender, Batum, came back and there really is no film on him. As of this point he has played just 5 games, but the surprising thing is the kid has developed a serious offensive game. This is a surprise to blazer fans who watched him rise from Summer League “who is that” to defensive starter, to oh Batum is back and he can shoot and attack the rim.
The Bobcats may have looked past this game, but your team is good. Splitting a road-trip out west is not too shabby and losing to us will probably just get your team fired up for the Lakers. A win there is way more valuable for momentum than a loss in Portland.
Good luck folks and I’ll be watching and rooting for you.
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