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Bobcats Knock Off Magic, 96-89

Even though they didn't have Gerald Wallace, the Charlotte Bobcats went to Amway Arena in Orlando and defeated the Magic, 96-89. The Cats selectively doubled Dwight Howard in the post, which didn't do much to stop him from scoring 27 points on 12-14 shooting, but their strategy did result in the rest of the Magic, especially Rashard Lewis, struggling to get points.

This game was a fine display of the Bobcats' best qualities: oppressive defense, attacking the rim, and timely shooting from distance. When they don't turn the defense up to 11 and settle for less than perfect jump shots, they're not a playoff-caliber team. But when the Cats do all those things, they're capable of beating the best teams in the league. They can take a best-of-seven series against anyone, but I'm not sure they'll be able to pull that off twice. They can only overcome so wide a talent gap.

The Cats are now 34-31.

Game thread comments, lowlights, and highlights after the jump.

Star-divide

GAME THREAD COMMENTS

Aisander D -- Is Gerald Henderson or Derrick Brown playing tonight? Or did they both come down with a nasty case of MyTeamJustSignedSomeGarbage-itis?

maverick24 -- The Theo trade was a great success. I'll slap anyone who disagrees.

BAD

-- Tyrus, I love you man, but you've got to cut down on your shots. You're there to block shots and attack the rim, especially on the break. He scored 9 points on 9 attempts and has attempted 13 shots per 36 minutes with the Cats. Compare to Crash, who attempts under 11 shots per 36 minutes.

GOOD

-- Boris Diaw shot 4-5 from the field for 9 points and played a major role in holding Lewis to 3 points on 1-7 shooting.

-- Stephen Jackson had a solid all around game again, scoring 28 points on 10-20 shooting, with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. One of his best attributes is being able to play a variety of roles, from point guard to power forward, and when he's at the nominal three, he can do it all.

-- As a team, the Magic shot 11-32(!) from three. Lewis was awful. Jameer Nelson was 2-10 from the field. Brandon Bass was 0-3. Jason Williams was 2-6. It seems like they found a balance between making life relatively difficult for Howard (results aside) and guarding everyone else.

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Quote of the night,

LB: “We defended like crazy.”

by maverick24 on Mar 14, 2010 8:45 PM EDT reply actions  

We earned some bragging rights tonight.

We took another one on the road.
We did it against one of the best teams in the East.
Once again we established our D as “elite.”
And for the very first time in the history of the franchise…

THE CHARLOTTE BOBCATS ARE 3 GAMES ABOVE .500

Oh my oh my oh my

by Ourdaywillcome on Mar 14, 2010 8:49 PM EDT reply actions  

Bravo Team!

Hate I missed the game…family duty called

by andrewlail76 on Mar 14, 2010 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions  

Stephen Graham should be on the Good list

He shouldn’t be getting more PT than Henderson, but he was definitely an asset tonight.

"I could never be a thug, they don't dress this well." - Malice

by Julius Coxswain on Mar 14, 2010 9:22 PM EDT reply actions  

really wish i was able to watch this game

very nice win for the Cats. this just shows me, as a fan, that the team can not only care about winning, but they actually can win.
especially without Gerald—who had a Justice League meeting.

--(insert quote, lyric, or joke here)

by StudMuffin15 on Mar 14, 2010 9:30 PM EDT reply actions  

Only 7 assists, 4 rebounds... pshhh

We’ve gotten use to 11 assists, 7 rebounds.

Otherwise known as SouthTunnel. Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

by ElBacano on Mar 15, 2010 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

I don't think it's very good at all.

The guy utterly trashes Nazr, refers to the team repeatedly as chaotic, and says that we have nothing at the 5, little at the 1, and our 2,3,&4 are a mess but offer our best strength. He states almost bluntly that Crash shows up, plays his minutes, makes his stats, and doesn’t care about anything else. Then he hinges our playoff cohesion on LB’s ability to glue it all together.

Oh yeah, he also says the team has mortgaged any hope for the future to hit the playoffs this one season.

I double-checked to see if it was written by Michael Procton. No I’m not kidding.

He says we’ve tied up our money for years to come in long-term worthless contracts too. But that logjam breaks after next season when, just for starters, the messy Chandler debacle will end. But let’s keep in mind that if we HADN’T made that Chandler deal, we’d be on the hook for at least another 2 more years and tens of millions of guaranteed dollars. The payoff for that deal will finally arrive in just one more season. If we hadn’t made that deal we wouldn’t have had the loot to sign Jax and Thomas and wouldn’t have the coin to try to resign Felton either. No, our payroll situation isn’t ideal or even “average,” but it starts improving in 1 more season. Until then, it’s very likely our team will be very close to the same one suiting up for our next game. We’re not going to see a draft pick for a goodly while, but by the time the team really worsens from where it is right now, we’ll be ready for a first round lottery pick again and have a lot of money to play with in the free agent market.
The future isn’t rosy, but it isn’t exactly an outhouse toilet either.

(there! that oughtta get the haters lunging for the keyboards)

by Ourdaywillcome on Mar 15, 2010 1:07 AM EDT up reply actions  

how the rest of the hoops world sees it

When a team gets no coverage at all from the national media (and let’s face it, until this year our boys certainly deserved that lack of attention,) this is the kind of article one sees— and will see far more of as the season wears on— as “journalists” scramble to become the first guy at their shop to cover the breaking story. Conventional wisdom augmented by one game’s observations, tossed as a salad, smirking smartly all the while.

It is amusing to see how the rest of the hoops world sees it. The Bobcats’ development is not something easily modeled from prior experience. From now on therefore, every article like this will iikely compare Larry Brown to Don Nelson. I personally don’t see the similarity—LB is about as conservative a coach as one can find in the modern era: defense first and last, slow down the pace, rookies playing significant minutes is out of the question, whereas Nelson really is the fringe “mad scientist” who will do everything and anything to confuse and destabilize, to the ridiculous extreme of having Manute Bol shoot threes.

Whenever I read one of these articles, I recall the experience of listening to two lawyer buddies of mine, brothers in fact, pontificating in the early 80s upon who amongst the SNL cast was talented as if either one had the slightest understanding of the craft of professional humor. Or their analysis of the relative merits of rock’n’roll bands as if they had an ounce of soul between them. I remember an argument in which they were both quite forceful in their assertion that Poco is/was a far greater and more important artist than Iggy Pop. And I’m thinking “you just don’t get it, do you?” But as attorneys they were effective arguers and after a while I realized it didn’t matter whether they got it or not. They were happy in their successful staking out of what appeared to them to be a defensible position.

The “journalist” who finds himself in a spot where he has to write an article about a team he’s never seen is in more less the same quandry, I would think. Can’t (yet) hold it against him— if he persists in his inaccurate characterization of the team once they become a bigger story and he has had more of an opportunity to learn what’s what here, then he’s a boob. For now though, he’s just superfluous, though it is nice to see someone other than insiders even mention the Cats in the national press.

by bugjackblue on Mar 15, 2010 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions  

Good!!!

Raymond Felton had a good all around game. He had 7 assists and 16 points. The Bobcats needed his performance to put away Orlando.

by etothet on Mar 14, 2010 11:52 PM EDT reply actions  

david,

is there a way we could get a “Jax’s love…” website? it could be the GW facts counterpart, except, with Jax’s lovemaking.

for example:
“Jax once stopped making love to the economy. thats why it was in a ‘depression’.”

--(insert quote, lyric, or joke here)

by StudMuffin15 on Mar 15, 2010 12:53 AM EDT reply actions  

How about that point guard everybody loves to hate???

Throughout this 5 game win streak he’s averaged 8 assists, 6 rebounds and a steal. His scoring has been a little down, but he’s making it up by getting the ball in others hands. It’s nice having him out there busting his tale, and then having DJ come in behind him looking like Speedy Gonzales. Those 2 are quite the tag team right now.

Otherwise known as SouthTunnel. Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

by ElBacano on Mar 15, 2010 10:45 PM EDT reply actions  

I'll be the first to withdraw my Felton "hating'

He’s not my fave, but he has vastly improved his basketball IQ from where he was last year.

IS he the $8+mil/year PG we need?
Probably not the $8mil part…but I think he’s probably a key to our continued success. Consistency is the key…and LB/Predator/Felton…they are starting to gel…Jax…his love keeps us together. If we go next season and keep our nucleus of players that play…It will be a really fun year.

by andrewlail76 on Mar 16, 2010 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions  

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