Bobcats become Mr. Hyde, fall to Pacers
Posted by Brett on 03/17/2010Boxscore
Score: 99-94 Indiana
Charlotte Bobcats record: 34-32
Offensive Efficiency: 104.4
Defensive Efficiency: 107.6
Meritorious Player: Stephen Graham - 19 points on 10 attempts, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 turnover.
The Bobcats Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde act continues, this time with the Bobcats following up a win over Orlando with a loss to the Indiana Pacers. Yes, the Bobcats are still missing Gerald Wallace (and Nazr Mohammed - miss you, post scoring) - but the Pacers are not a good team this year. However, the Bobcats aren't either, not when they are turning the ball over 18 times. The most memorable one is of course Boris Diaw's pass to Troy Murphy with the Bobcats down just 3 late - but it was not the one that put the Bobcats in position to lose - it was the myriad ones prior. On that play, Boris did what he does - he saw a man cut down the lane and he tried to thread it in there - unfortunately, Troy Murphy never felt a need to close on Boris because he could feel confident that Boris was not looking to shoot, allowing him to step in front of the ball and seal the win. Now, on that play, Boris made a bad pass - a lob probably gets the ball in to the man, a chance to score or get fouled, but it was the right play - Boris was below the 3 point line, so getting the ball down low was a better move than taking the long 2. And for the game, Boris was solid - 20 points on 10 attempts, 5 rebounds, 4 assist, a block and 3 turnovers.
No, the real problem was Stephen Jackson's 6 turnovers and 14 missed shots. Jax finished with 20 points on 8 of 22 shooting, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. So, he had the ball in his hands a lot - did a lot of good and a fair amount of bad for the Bobcats. But the blame does not entirely rest on him: With Gerald out, the Cats are missing a key offensive cog, and while Stephen Graham stepped up his game and Boris scored a bit more than normal, Jackson was left to carry a significant burden as Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin combined for 10 field goal attempts in 54 minutes of combined action. Ray did at least have 6 assists to just 2 turnovers, but 9 attempts - resulting in only 7 points - in nearly 35 minutes is leaving an awful lot of possessions for teammates to take care of. D.J. was even more invisible - 1 attempt and 4 free throw attempts in 19 minutes - 1 assist and 1 turnover. Considering he had averaged 10 a game over the last 5, it was a bad time to revert to passive D.J.
30 minutes of work for Theo Ratliff and Tyson Chandler - 2 of 9 from the floor for 9 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks between them. The defensive numbers are good work, but adding Nazr back to the mix sure would help boost the scoring from the 5 spot.
Tyrus Thomas was active - 14 points and 5 rebounds, but not overly efficient, going 5 of 9 from the field, 4 of 7 from the line, and adding a turnover - that works out to a point a possession used. There is a lot of potential there - and if Larry Brown can harness Ty like he has Crash, it could be fun to watch. But for now, TT is still in the energetic backup phase, and needs to focus on defense and rebounding. Same for Gerald Henderson who managed 2 turnovers on 5 possessions used last night in 10 minutes. I like his double clutch rebounds, but for an older rookie, he has some development work ahead of him.
Good news from all this: Miami and Chicago lost last night as well, so the Bobcats do not move much in the playoff race. A chance to rectify last night comes tonight, with the Thunder in the Queen City. A better team hopefully brings Dr. Jekkyl back out.
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