Opponent: Indiana Pacers (6-8)
Efficiencies:
Offensive: 103.0
Defensive: 101.5
Jason returns for Charlotte. D.J. heads to the bench. And Henry Williams wants Emeka to get 15 or 16 attempts a game. He really harped on that in pre-game show. And I am just left to say: Why? He does not score efficiently (for a big man) and he is a turnover machine so far this year. Let's not force things with him.
Time for tipoff.
Glad to see that because Jason is back, Alexis has to follow D.J. to the bench. Wait - no, I am not. What has Sean done to deserve the start?
I say that - and May drives to the hoop and draws the foul. Nice to see him not settle for the jumper.
Jason finds Emeka under the basket with a tough pass. Rather than rush up with the ball, Emeka gathers himself, gives a headfake, and goes up strong for the layup. Nice patience (and good find by J-Rich).
Raymond hits an early 3 - maybe he is hot again.
Or not. Raymond clangs the wide-open look. Granger buries a similar look at the other end.
After gritting my teeth previously at a long jump shot by Sean, he semi-redeems himself by posting up and driving again. He did not make the shot, but I am glad to see him making an effort to get back down on the blocks.
After an Emeka tip-in of a missed layup, Henry now says that Emeka is more of a garbage man type scorer. Exactly - which is why setting a number of attempts for him in the mid-teens is ludicrous.
I praise Sean, and he rewards me with another (missed) jumper. I am trying to be positive, Sean, stop making it more difficult.
Ugly possession by the Bobcats, with Sean May standing at the top of the key holding the ball a while, then Ray dribbling aimlessly before J-Rich bails everyone out with a tough jumper as the shot-clock expired. Yeah - they scored, but it was not an encouraging offensive possession.
Bobcats are very small with D.J., Raymond, Matt, Gerald, and Emeka on the court. First defensive possession - Crash blocks/alters a layup by Rush. On the second - Gerald steals a pass from Foster. A small lineup is tougher to exploit if you don't get a shot up (or at least one that is not blocked/attempted under extreme duress).
Morrison replaces Gerald Wallace - does the defense skip a beat? No - and thanks to Adam. He blocks Roy Hibbert's attempt. I did not see that coming.
Adam gets the ball at the top of the free-throw circle from D.J. Head-fake, his man flies by, one dribble, and swish from the free-throw line. Nice solid play (I hate when guys take that as a chance to jump into someone and have little chance at making the field goal attempt).
Not necessarily the smart play by D.J, but it worked. Raymond drove and missed a layup. Emeka misses the follow dunk, but tips the rebound out. With 24ish seconds left in the quarter - the Bobcats should hold the ball to close the quarter, right? Maybe, but D.J. lets it fly and nylon on the 3-point attempt. One of those "No, no...Good shot" sequences.
After 12 minutes, the Bobcats are up 10, 28-18, and looking good at both ends of the court, though I do not expect Indiana to shoot 28.6% for the entire game.
To start the second quarter, Gerald has Jeff Foster defending him...and decides to use his superior quickness to take a contested jumper from the top of the key? Yeah, he got fouled, but why not head towards the basket?
Nice - Indiana is throwing it to the invisible man over and over. 3 times already in this quarter, with about 9 minutes to go. Some credit to the Cats and their ball pressure, but some of it is just Indiana players jumping without a plan. Remember, always leave your feet a shooter (or something like that).
D.J. - if Gerald takes your man, you take his. His man was Granger - the guy who just buried another 3.
Now Henry just called Danny Granger the closest thing there is to another Scottie Pippen. Really? A little much, I think.
D.J. gets smoked by T.J. - who finds Granger for yet another 3. D.J. is supposed to be quick - but T.J. is showing him (and everyone else) what he can he do.
Yeah - that whole Indiana shooting 27% thing - that is done. They are now at 41.4%, Charlotte at 40%. Thanks to all the passes to Harvey, the Cats still lead by 7.
And the lead is down to 3 after two layups for Indiana. First - T.J. Ford grabs the miss of an Emeka free-throw, and outruns everyone for the lay in. Daniels got his the next trip down after a missed Morrison runner in the lane.
Raymond sparks a 5-0 run for the Bobcats with a couple of freebies and then a 3.
Is Adam gun-shy? He passed up a wide open 3, but got it right back from Jason Richardson. He took it that time, and nearly banked it in. Not a good looking attempt.
The lead goes from 12 to 5 in a flash. As the Bobcats run the clock down, D.J drives, and Emeka leaks down the baseline. The unexpected move leads to a turnover and chance for Indiana to further trim the lead.
...The Pacers nearly do, with a Daniels (I think) runner bouncing away from 10 feet at the buzzer.
At the half, the score is 53-48, and while the second quarter went to the Pacers, the Bobcats are now shooting just 36.4% for the game. That should improve, just as the Pacers were bound to after the first.
Favorite numbers from the first half (besides the score): 26-25. That is rebounds, and the Bobcats are on the right side of it, for once. They have gotten away with playing small much of the game because Emeka has been huge: 13 rebounds already for Mek. Good work.
2 fouls for the Bobcats in the first 24 seconds of the second half...and then Sean May gets burned by Jeff Foster for the backdoor score. Not a good possession to start the second half.
Jason Richardson makes a tough runner, then Felton makes a tough spinning jumper the next time. Tough shots but they count. The next trip down, though - J-Rich with a charge. Offense is scoring enough to stay in front, but not looking great so far.
I say that, and Jason takes advantage of Troy Murphy attempting to guard him, attacks the rim to get to the line for 2. Only makes 1 though. 3 point lead, 60-57 Bobcats.
Granger is making everything now - 23 on the game.
Sean May makes the jumper from the top of the key - leading the talking heads to say that the jumper never left him. Really? He is shooting like 30% for the season (not looking it up right now).
That whole struggling offense thing? It is continuing - Jason Richardson gets called for another offensive foul. Lead is down to 1.
Nice play coming out of the timeout - Richardson rolls through the lane, curls back around a screen - Felton hits him in stride for the turnaround.
Granger makes another jumper. Come on, Gerald, be our defensive stopper.
Nice ball movement by the Bobcats. 4 players touch the ball as it is whipped from the post around the perimeter, culminating in a layup and one for Richardson.
Yes, Gerald has 4 steals on the game - but Granger has been his cover much of the game, and Danny has 28 points on 11 of 15 shooting. There is more to D than steals and blocks.
The Pacers take the lead on a Rush 3 for the first time in forever. So, Charlotte comes down, Sean with a nifty pass to Emeka for a layup and foul. Not sure which was more impressive, Sean's sort of behind the back pass in the lane, or Emeka making a reverse layup. Maybe I should say more surprising. Bobcats up 1 with the chance to make it 2...after we see the same commercials for the 100th time.
Emeka with a clang on the free throw, Charlotte up 1.
Bad shot by D.J. leads to a fastbreak the other way, layup Indiana and Daniels at the line. He makes his - 2 point Pacer lead.
Nevermind about Adam being gun shy - he just buried a contested 3, with no hesitation on putting it up.
They just showed a profile of Augustin during a stoppage of play - where they listed him as 6-0. Unless he has lifts in his shoes, he is 5-11, in shoes. That is what he got measured at in the pre-draft camp.
Granger continues to pour it in, with an old-fashioned 3 point play, now up to 31. Indiana - 77-75.
Bad series for the Bobcats - Richardson misses a shot, bangs knees with Foster, the Pacers score at the other end and Richardson has to come out, favoring his knee (his right one - the trouble one. Awesome (sarcasm)).
End of the 3rd, Pacers up 81-77.
Williams is going on and on about the Bobcats not having anyone on the court to create shots for teammates to start the 4th. Umm...D.J. is out there - he was drafted as a point guard. Think before speaking.
Good sign - Jason is walking to the scorer's table to check back in. And Danny Granger picks up his 5th foul. Good 5 seconds for the Cats and they do not even score.
Raymond penetrates on a screen and roll with Nazr - D.J. is open at the top, Gerald on the opposite wing at the 3 point line. If this was a choose-your-adventure book, I know what I would pick. Raymond does the opposite, and Gerald bricks a 3 (and is now 1 of 9 from the field for the game).
D.J. ties it up with a 3. 2 straight turnovers for Indiana but Bobcats give it right back on a very poor alley-oop attempt.
The Bobcats get a stop - and then D.J. does not realize the shot clock is up and Charlotte wastes their 24 seconds.
6 minutes to go and a tie game.
Just as I am typing that - Jarrett Jack for 3.
That is what we had been missing - Richardson for 3. 90 to 90, about 5 minutes left. After getting a stop, the Bobcats work it around to Felton in the corner and he matches Jason. Bobcats up 3.
Jason drives and gets bumped on the shot, while banging knees. No whistle. He gets flattened by Foster going for the rebound. Whistle. But only Bobcats ball out of bounds off Indiana. Really? Oh and Jason is limping noticeably again after this meeting of knees.
Gerald works for the high percentage shot, backs Granger down and scores in the lane. Smart play, Crash.
And then when Granger fumbles a pass, Gerald dives on it and gets the timeout. Bobcats ball, up 1 with 1:46 to go. On the court, Charlotte has Gerald, Raymond, D.J., Emeka, and and Jason.
Troy Murphy for 3 - and a 2 point lead for Indiana. Pacers capitalize on 3 straight missed (and difficult) jumpers taken/missed by Charlotte. The worst part - the second one was what they got out of a timeout, Jason curling off a couple of screens for a tough 20 footer. Taken with 12 seconds on the shot clock. Time for a better one.
Charlotte has 40 seconds to score. And Raymond finds Emeka underneath for the layup. Great play. Tie game.
T.J gets a shooters bounce, and Raymond flies up the court to tie it. But leaves 6.9 seconds for Indiana. Tie game - overtime ahead? I hope so.
Oh and these two made baskets by the Cats - neither were jumpers, both came on drives. Stay aggressive.
Pacers inbound and Granger shoots over Emeka - and it bounces over the backboard at 3.9 seconds left. Cats ball. With 1.9 left. Dick Bavetta was able to tell that the clock had not started correctly and 2 additional seconds needed to be taken off...without the use of replay. I am either very impressed or very upset.
Felton misses a heave and time for overtime
Charlotte sticks with the small lineup to start overtime - D.J., Raymond, Gerald, Emeka, and Jason. Glad to see it (no offense Sean - actually, I do not care).
Nice start to overtime for Charlotte - Gerald drives and gets fouled, to the line for 2. Clang. Swish. 100-99.
Bobcats use nearly all the shot clock again, then D.J. assists Felton for 3.
Then Felton returns the favor after a quick shot and miss by Indiana. 106-99 Charlotte. Awesome.
Bobcats double point guard lineup lets them switch and still have a point on Jarrett Jack. He drives and nearly gets tied up. Charlotte recovers the ball and as D.J. stands in the backcourt with the ball, Jack runs right into him - foul called. But just a strange/dumb play by Jack.
Emeka bails out Charlotte with a rebound and follow. 108 to 102.
Charlotte is content to run clock. D.J. misses a 3 with about a second on the shot clock. Missed.
Another break for Charlotte as T.J. Ford misses a backdoor layup on a sideline inbound. Still 108-103 Charlotte.
Indiana to the line for 2 (T.J.) with 47.2 left. Makes one. And another.
Will the Bobcats attack Granger (with his 5 fouls) with Crash? Run Jason off screens for a jumper? Penetrate with the points? None of the above - Jason dribbles forever, and kicks back to Felton. But it turned out ok - Raymond knocks down the 18 footer - 5 point lead for Charlotte and 26.1 seconds left. A win in the offing? (I do not believe in jinxes.)
T.J. makes the percentages work - makes 1 of 2 this time (but 9 of 10 for the game, when he is shooting about 90% for the season). I always like to think about it that way - a player who has made 4 in a row but is a 75% shooter - due for a miss. From my stats class in college - I know it is an independent event and the previous attempts do not affect it, but I do it anyway.
I have a feeling Felton will be the meritorious player of the game, as he just matched his career high (while shooting efficiently).
Felton makes 1 out the line. Indiana makes the layup (the defensive player changes did not really work as that took about 6 seconds for Indiana to score). D.J. gets fouled and makes both, so back to 5 point game with 12 ticks left.
Granger forces up a long 3 and D.J. grabs the rebound and gets phantom fouled by Murphy (who was annoyed by the call, I think Indiana was willing to concede).
Ball game - Charlotte wins 115-108. The recap will happen in the morning, as I was up very late last night/this morning for Black Friday shopping.
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| Pacer Fan Says: | That was purely TJ trying to out-Texas DJ one-on-one, sick shot clock violation | ||
| Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:28 pm |
