Bobcats and Lakers Recap, Preseason 08-09
10/24/2008The Bobcats played the Lakers on Tuesday night and lost, 102-98. The rematch was last night, and the Bobcats lost, again, 88-77. With the game on tv last night, I was glad to finally get to watch some action - then the game started. I made it halfway through the first quarter and decided that sleep was more important than watching the ugliness, and I left the dvr do the work. Sometime (this evening or tomorrow) I will turn the game back on and endure it, but I am not looking forward to it. And, with an 0-8 record, I am starting to be nervous about the regular season starting next week. I will offer some thoughts on these two games, and then later today or Monday, provide a full rundown of thoughts on the preseason.
Adam Morrison - 33 minutes 29 seconds - 21 points - 8 of 16 from the floor, 2 of 5 from 3, 3-4 from line - 6 rebounds - 2 assists - 2 steals - 2 blocks. That is a very nice line for Ammo. Even putting aside the points (and efficienct shooting), he was active in all phases of the game. I hope he can force his way into solid minutes from LB. I am still pulling for him, despite having been so critical of his play previously (the 2 are separate - though people tend to forget that when you criticize a player they like).
Post defense: Andrew Bynum - 22 points on 62% shooting in 47+ mins. Pau Gasol - 25 points on 67% shooting in 42+ mins. Sean May cannot guard a seven footer right now (if he ever could). With May on the court, Gasol shot 83% and scored 11 points in 22 minutes.
Another May note - During the pregame discussions, the stat showing the Bobcats being last in the NBA last season for bench scoring came up. One of the commentators called the Bobcats bench "thin". The camera was on Sean May at the time. I laughed.
Continued PG struggles - I am not talking about being family friendly - the point guards both struggled in LA. Raymond - 17 points on 23% shooting, 8 assists, 3 turnovers in 54 minutes. D.J. - 16 points, 33% shooting, 8 assists, 4 turns in 44 minutes. Too much shooting for two players who are doing it so poorly. The assists and turnover levels are ok, but the offense will struggle when the points are taking (and missing) more shots than creating: With Raymond, the offense scored 84.6 points per 100 possessions - atrocious. With D.J., it was merely bad at 93.6. Step it up guys.
Enough on the LA trip. More thoughts to come on the state of the team with the preseason slate complete.
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| spectre Says: | Go ahead and watch the rest of the game...at least up thru 3/4 of the 3rd quarter. After that just cut it off! First off, I adhere to what Doug Collins said during the game: Larry Brown's teams almost always get worse before they get better. Due to them trying to learn and iniate 20 some odd plays on offense that should be understandable (esp. realizing most of these guys have never had a competent coach in the NBA), BUT we should start to see positive signs on the defensive end...and IMO that's what we saw thru the first 3 quarters of the last LAL game. Not touching statistics (I leave that in your very capable hands Brett), I saw an intensity on D and execution that we've seldom seen before from the guys. A very good sign. I think it's going to take a while before the team "gets" it. I look for a pretty bad start from a W/L record and a lot of fans ready to jump off the ledge. By the middle of the season though I think we'll start playing the "right way" and by season's end we'll fighting for an 8th seed. We might fall short and no playoffs again would be very disappointing...but as one sage poster on BCP said we're not in this to just get into the playoffs; we want to contend. That's not built in one season. Brown will ultimately get us there, but even he can't work miracles and totally erase the stench of the Idiot in just a few short months. |
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| Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:00 am |
