Bobcats fall to Hornets, 88-81

Yes, Okafor took a dive. That takes presence of mind, so I know it wasn’t like he just took a haymaker from Tyson.
But the elbow was deliberate. It wasn’t wildly flung, but controlled and aimed. I don’t think Thomas was even thinking about it. He took a micro-thump on the way down with the ball and all he was thinking about was the no-call and showing Okafor that he wasn’t gonna be bullied. It doesn’t matter. He planted that elbow.

To me the only difference was whether it was an F1 or an F2. Dell felt it was an F2, Steve wasn’t 100% certain, and Stephanie was scarfing her Yoplait – spoon, carton, and all while jealously eyeing a kid with a corn dog.

That’s why the refs reviewed it and I think they made a righteous call. I expect that come Monday the league will lighten Tyrus’ wallet by about 10K or so. I’m just hoping they don’t suspend him. Right now there are no other sparks off the bench that Coach Silas seems to trust enough to give burn to except Liv, and that’s through necessity, not desire to see him take over a game from the bench.

By the end of the game, both Jack and Predator were running on a mix of fumes and adrenaline. This past week isn’t the only 4-game week we’re staring at. At some point Silas is simply going to have to roll the dice and give his scrubs some trust or our starters are going to roll up lame again and take the choice out of his hands.
It isn’t just the law of averages either. Ask any soccer player. They know the science. As your striated muscle (biceps, quads, calves and sartorius (inner thigh) depletes oxygen reserves, heavy breathing will replace it, but only for so long. After about 20 minutes, respiratory supply can’t keep up with demand. First the muscles will start to cramp. Then, like an engine without oil, they will start to seize and contract, taking the tendons with them. That’s where most hamstring, tendon, and other cartilaginous injury comes from. (The rest of the time it’s from improperly stretching and warming up. Pick on Okafor all you want, but he’s adding at least 2 seasons to his body with his stretching regimen.) NBA athletes are the second-best conditioned team players in the world. (Soccer gets the edge and rugby is very close in third) They can handle the occasional 40+ night if they take their training seriously. But there are only so many 80+ minutes in 24 hours performances in the tank. Silas needs to look at the schedule. The human body needs at least 48-72 hours to recover from that kind of abuse. We only have one 2-day break in the next month and we’re coming off of a 4 game/5 night stint WITH travel. The one real break also includes a day for flying out for the West Coast road trip, so there’s no love there either. The casualty list is going to grow between now and the All-Star Break unless Silas gets wiser with his minute distribution. We all know that Wallace and Jack in particular will complain at reduced minutes, but the last time I checked, Silas was in charge with Jordan’s backing. When the man signing the paycheck tells you to sit yer ass down, it’s a good idea to shut up and listen. Otherwise, the coach of the team they get traded to will give them all the rest in the world. But the ominous trade noises coming out of the front offices are an entirely different topic. Hopefully Monday we can race out ahead of the Sixers early and Brown, McGuiree, Najera and the others that have been consigned to Yahtzee hell for the past week will be able to redeem themselves.

Jordan was hell-bent on unloading DJ ahead of all others (packaging him with Nazr and/or Diop before the injury) but Silas talked MJ down from that particular ledge and convinced him that DJ is of growing value to the team and worth holding on to.

Again, just about anyone is trade bait at this point, but Jordan is trying to move the big-money, big-interest men that he has. We could get rid of most anyone if we want to badly enough, but Jordan wants to either shave budget coin, or bring in someone young with a lot of upside currently playing for small paper.

I don’t understand it. It’s like he wants to have his cake and eat it too. He needs to generate some money, but he needs to work for the future as well or any immediate cash he attracts will fly out the door if his remaining talent erodes either through age and erosion or trades that amount to little more than fire sales if he pursues what appears to be his current path.