That was not quite the start I was hoping for and I do not think I am alone in that. "I wish I would have stayed retired" - Larry, I am sure you said that in a joking manner, but, seriously? Almost no one expects you to stick around for that long and comments like that are unlikely to inspire confidence.
With the Wanderer stuff mentioned - the starters (Felton, Jason, Gerald, May, Okafor) were expected to play extensive minutes in an attempt to get them used to Larry Brown's system - or so we were told. Actually, they only played 6 minutes and 38 seconds together and lost 14-11 during that time. Somewhat unusual - the entire time the Bobcats starters were on the court, they faced only one lineup from the Magic, their starters. Realizing that, I feel slightly better about the game, because while our starters were not great, they (as a group) were not the reason the team lost by 271 (approximately).
The lineup that played the second most minutes? The starters, with DJ substituted for Raymond. This group actually won in their 5+ minutes of floor time, 15-11, though the DJ led starters only played the Magic starters for about 1 and a half minutes (7-6, Cats). Augustin as an individual contributor, well, he did not contribute much. 2 points, 3 assists, 2 turnovers. Oh and the defense allowed ~140 points per 100 possessions with him on the court, compared to ~104 with Raymond. I do not think DJ is going to get the starting gig in the near future, with defense being such a key point with LB.
Who to blame for the thumping? Well, two lineups managed to do plenty of damage. Andre Brown, Donell Taylor, Jared Dudley, Jermareo Davidson, and Shannon Brown managed to be outscored by 10 in just 2 minutes and 25 seconds of action. Oh, and they scored a big Zero. Good work guys. The second group was nearly as bad at -8 in 2min 23secs: A hand for D.J. Augustin, Gerald Wallace, Matt Carroll, Nazr Mohammed, and Sean May.
Bright spots? Few and far between. Gerald had an ok game, as long as you do not look at shot attempts. 18 points (3-11 from the floor, 11 rebounds (4 offensive), 3 blocks and a steal. Oh, and 9 fouls drawn. Very nice, Crash, that is what we want/need to see from you. And...that is it. At least no one got hurt (that I am aware of).
I have little else to add - I forgot to set the dvr prior to heading out for church last night, so I am going solely from recaps, boxscores, and the play-by-play I ran to calculate stats. Check out the stats page and you can see the detailed box score for the game: Bobcats and Magic 10/9/2008.
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