Good news: The Bobcats improved. Their offensive and defensive efficiencies both improved dramatically from the debacle against the Magic. On offense, they went from 78.4 points per 100 possessions to 83.2; that is, admittedly, still atrocious, but it is an improvement. Defensively, the change was even more dramatic, dropping from 116.8 to 98.9 points per 100 poss. The bad news: As you can see they are still in the negative, quite dramatically. Additional bad news, this was the Memphis Grizzlies they were playing, and they still got stomped.
Gerald's game 1 aggression was nowhere to be seen: 13 free throw attempts down to 1, on 9 fouls drawn down to 2. 11 rebounds reduced to 3. Crash was not the only less aggressive player - as a whole, the game had far fewer fouls (and free throw attempts) than the opener with the Magic.
Since I made a note that implied defensive shortcomings by DJ Augustin in game 1, I feel compelled to point out that the roles were reversed last night, as DJ had a defensive efficiency of 96.0, while Raymond was at 116.3. Augustin had a better game overall against the Griz, with 8 points (though it did take 7 shots to get them) and 4 assists. As for the other rookie, Alexis had a better night as well, scoring 5 points and grabbing 2 rebounds in only 4 minutes of action. Also encouraging for Ajinca was the Bobcats defense: The defensive efficiency was 70 points/100 poss while he played. Small sample, but better than the alternative.
The supposed heavy minutes for the starters still did not happen, as they played only 8 minutes and 57 seconds together. Maybe that was too much though, as they were outscored by 8 during that time, providing most of the losing margin. Sean May is still playing into shape, and contributing little while he does it. The good news is that he is playing and it is only preseason. The other injury returnee, Morrison, actually had an ok game, grabbing 4 rebounds to go along with 4 points and 2 assists. Nice to see the effort on the boards, as that was not always evident his rookie year.
Look over the box score and draw your own conclusions (but please share them in the comments).
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