Charlotte Bobcats defeat OKC Thunder, 100-92; Cats recovered from abysmal 1st quarter

1) i really think Gerald’s ankle reincarnated itself into the neo-Stephen Graham.

2) i can agree that he shouldnt see time over Derrick Brown. he showed us he can play. but as far as Henderson goes: ill take Graham’s career nights over Hendo’s D every night. the scoring helps. not saying that Henderson cant play, but Graham is really showing us that he can play.
you brought up his past as a player: i argue that what happened to him was that teams played their younger players over him—much like the dilemma you want to happen David. what if he really got a chance on the Pacers? food for the thought.

Nice job David.

Just before half time, after raymond felton’s 3 was the loudest I have ever heard the arena! It was incredible and I could tell the fans are excited about the playoff push.

There was no one cheering for the other team for once. Hopefully by the time people bandwagon Ok City, we will be selling out games with Bobcat fans.

Felton was sick

Jackson started hitting his in your eye cause Im playing at home shots the 2nd half.

I love to see our depth of big men now but I would like to see more of Chandler/Ratliffs minutes going to Tyus.

It seemed like DJ was in the game way longer than 11 minutes without doing anything.

Steven Graham can play. I dont believe that because he is well-traveled, that it means he cant play. Also, you know LB knew he could play like this all along. I trust LB with the rotation.

“Did this dude just did this?”

I think I have reasons for you guys hating on him so much…………………..

1. He looks like a football player- He doesn’t have the typical basketball player body. He’s pretty stout up top and has a regular lower body, which very few basketball player’s do. At times, it may look weird out there because he’s so big but puts the ball on floor, takes 3’s, and drives to the rack. Just think of him as a poor man’s LeBron.

2. He wasn’t a lottery pick. That kind of thinking gets people in trouble. When they feel they have to play somebody or not play somebody based on their draft spot. You get whatever works, and you stick with it. Hell, Adam Morrison was the #3 pick in the draft and Sam Vincent tried his best to force his mediocrity down our throats because of it. Meanwhile, Graham wasn’t a lottery pick, but has put in the work to get better and deserves his shot.

3. He bounced around the league a little……….He’s not the only. Boris, Jackson, Mohammed, all have been on multiple teams throughout their careers. Hell, even look at Chauncey Billups. It took him a while before he found himself in Detroit.

Bottom line, I’m not saying Graham is the greatest. But YOU ABSOLUTELY have to take 7-9 shooting off the bench for a playoff race. We’ve NEVER been to the playoffs, and all of the sudden, during the heated playoff race, we’re worried about the future? Look, if Henderson and Brown are as good as ROF wants to make them out to be, then I’m sure their skills won’t leave them over the next year’s time. Trust Larry and let him do what he is doing. Stephen Graham is a more than capable player filling in for Wallace off the bench, and it’s time we gave him props. If he was a lottery pick doing this, there wouldn’t be any problem. But just because he was out there floating in free agency, he’s a nobody?

Hello, my name is Ourdaywillcome and I’m a Graham-hater

HI OUR DAY!!!!!

It began innocently enough. I made plans to attend my very first game at Time Warner Arena. It was gonna hurt. As much as I loved the Bobcats, my declining health had kept me from games. Any tme I could have attended some doctor wanted to suck out some fluid or do an MRI on some part of me. I felt like Johnny Dangerously’s mom. (It’s her thyroid Johnny. We can’t find it. We have to do a thyroid search. It’s on sale today for just $500)
Then there was that time my wife actually got tickets and took me to Charlotte. We got there just before game time to discover that she had left the directions on the table and by the time we got to the Cable Box it was already almost 8 and we just decided to go home.

I endured the knowing laughs at work when I put up the Bobcats penant in my office. One of my best friends was on his way to the pros when he blew out his knee and the scouts from Philly and Detroit suddenly forgot his name. He worked beside me but the fool was a Cowboys fan and I was neither a masochist or gifted at raising bail money so we kept the conversation to his youth basketball team and my soccer squad.

I knew word had gotten around about me when my bud and I hung out one night. We saw a group of his friends and that whole “race” thing cropped up. He had to introduce me to his posse, but he’d hear about it later. As they gathered around me to scope my cool (or lack of) he said, “no… this is him! The Bobcats guy!” “For real?” I didn’t pay for a thing all night. I was surrounded by people eager to hear my story of coming playoff glory. I was so happy I pretended not to notice the knowing looks and rolled eyes they threw back and forth.

So anyway, I finally got to my first game. It was time to find out what that genius Larry Brown had pulled off in the off season. He’d made some gutsy moves, but hey! It’s Larry Brown!

The game started. Three minutes and seventeen seconds into the game I saw someone I recognized. Nazr! But the game just started! Huh? Chandler’s in foul trouble? Frikkin’ refs. What are the odds on THAT happening the ONE night I’m at the game. It’s okay Tyson, we’ll get ’em next time!

I tried to refocus on the game but someone had stuck what looked like a storefront dummy from the Belks Sporting Goods section on the court. Hey! Somebody get that thing off the co… wait! Did that thing just move? Good Lord! That’s Boris Diaw! THe lane is wide open! Dude! The usher tells me to save my breath. Diaw, he says, does this every night. As he moves away I can hear him mumbling under his breath… every… damned… night…. (that’s actually a true story)

Out on the court there’s Raymond Felton! Hey RayRay!!!! Woohoooo! He’s like Speedy GOnzalez on roller skates! Look at him go! He’s in the paint! He’s on the perimeter! He’s driving the hole! He’s… picking himself up off the court after bouncing off of three dudes with a collective height of just under 20 feet. A loud noise draws my attention. There’s a fistfight in the 3rd row! No wait. A player is coming out of the pile. He’s carrying a ball. Oh, it’s just Wallace doing what he does best. The stands look like the end of a Roller Derby match, but it’s Bobcats ball!. I can tell because the announcer just loosened several of my filings in order to remind me.

After the crushing loss, I go home and discover from the box score some guy named Graham played 31 minutes. I thought he was on the other team. Try as I might, I can’t think of a single thing – good or bad – that the guy did. Maybe his line… let’s see… Assists – 0…. Points 0-7… Rebounds – 1 – see? He WAS there! He got one more rebound that Diop and Diop didn’t even play!

Over the course of the first 3 months of the season each and every player except Chandler improved dramatically and the bizarre antics I witnessed at that first game came together around a misfit named Jackson and somehow molded itself into the most exciting basketball team I’d seen in years. Chandler was injured most of that time and while I don’t buy his injury for a second, at least he had an excuse.

Yet until this week, I never once saw a glimmer of what this Graham guy did that the towel boy couldn’t do better. It wasn’t that he was a bad player. It was that he… well he… never DID anything! Game after game he had all the impact of a Nerf ball on a brick wall.

So suddenly, Stephen Graham is playing some great ball. There is no denying it. Nobody knows why either. But it couldn’t come at a better time. He’s no beast, but he’s so effective that OKC actually faked a double-team on him last night. I’m thrilled! I’m also expecting it to last just about as long as a Slushie in hell. The guy is playing as if his entire pro career depended on it and… hey wait a minute! I think I’m on to something.

No matter. Next week I’m headed back to the Cable Box. The Cats are playing the Wizards. I’m gonna miss them. I plan to keep a candle in the window for when the Wizards return to viability in about 7 years. We should demolish them by at least 30 points and there will be plenty of time for Wallace and Jax to have a crackin’ good Stratego tournament on the bench. Of course we all know this means it will come down to the closing seconds and be decided on a last minute floater as time expires. The way things have gone lately there’s a fair chance that floater will come from the fingertips of one Stephen Graham as he seals his first-ever triple-double. Oh, I’ll cheer for him. I’ll cheer loudly. I’ll greet him like a lost son. Then I’ll come home, sit at this very keyboard and wonder if this means Graham is earning a starter spot on next year’s squad. The playoffs are famous for creating unlikely heroes and stranger things have happened. I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens. Who knows. I’ve heard the Cowboys need new fans.

If I’ve learned anything from in fantasy basketball, nearly anyone can have a great game or two. But consistency is what makes or breaks ’em. Now Graham has been a decent player to this point, or as much as someone can with varying minutes throughout the year. His defense has been good. Not great, but not too terrible. In contrast to this, he makes mistakes that counter the benefits of his defense, ie. numerous over the back calls, some silly fouls.

By all means, this playing time should have been going to the rookies for the benefit of their development. In light of Gerald’s absence, Graham has magically transformed into a pretty much error-free efficient player. Now, I’m as glad as anyone that Graham is playing like he is since without him, we’d likely have another L. It’s great to see someone step up, but everyone shouldn’t just step up to be a Graham lover for his 2 big games. For all we know, had the rooks been getting his time, our bench would be in much better shape, and we might not have needed Graham’s big night to win.

All that said, let’s see what Graham can do with this streak of his to determine whether he’s getting better or if he’s just a blind squirrel finding an acorn. Seeing as how our schedule gets a little easier after this coming week, I’d expect to see more minutes for Graham, Hendo, and Brown, and then we’ll be able to see the truth.

Graham’s production up to this point in the season has been relatively non-existent, bordering on negatively impactful. His last three games don’t make up for that. Henderson and Brown could have been in his place, getting steady minutes and I bet they would have at least matched his season production to this point, and more than likely would have exceeded it.

That being said, if Graham continues to play at this level for the remainder of the season, helping us to a playoff berth, then that’s great. The playoffs are important, but the development of future promising talent is probably equally so.

Stephen Graham keep up the Solid play keep making the Haters look STUPID being a fan of a player (Henderson) is one thing, being in Denial is another. What does Henderson contribute while on the Court? Nothing. We know Graham is not a starter we also know the last few games he is playing at his cealing but he has earned his mins over Henderson what he adds to the team is far more than Hendo at this point if you dispute that Fact you are not being Objective or mabey you have grown to identify with losing and come to enjoy it. If Steven Graham is helping us win give him mins.

I really like the kid. And I hope he is being a student and letting LB teach him to “play the right way”. If so then I think we’ve yet to see his potential, and he could develop into a serious player! On the other hand, I worry about the statements that he’s a “head-case”. Is he going to flip out one day when LB yanks him for taking bad shots? How will he act once the excitement of all this playing time wears off?

was a fun one to watch at the Cable Box. Despite our terrible beginning, it was one of the more enjoyable games I’ve seen in person.

Im thinking about driving down to ATL to catch the game tommarow I am wondering if anyone has gone to Philips Arena and how was your expirience Im not gonna get shot for wearing a bright Orange Felton jersey am I ?

I never had any problems back in the day but it’s been a while. I’m envying the hell out of you. I’d LOVE to check out that game.

You shouldn’t catch any grief unless the Bobcats kick butt and you gloat too loudly.
If it were a matter of home court advantage or something of that nature it might be a different story. But unless things have changed in a big way, Atlanta’s a hell of a lot friendlier to visit for a game than say, Philly or Detroit.