Boxscore
Score: 110-101 (ot) Bobcats (Yes!)
Bobcats Record: 8-18
Game Efficiencies:
Offensive: 112.2
Defensive: 103.1
Meritorious Player: D.J. Augustin. 29 points on 16 attempts (only 6 makes, but 13 of 13 from the line). 7 assists and 1 steal to make up for the single turnover. The Cats were +19 with him on the court (in 45 minutes), with a net efficiency of +21.1. Big moment: Making 3 of 3 at the line with 19 seconds left to tie the game and ultimately send it to over time. Clutch.
Bobcats win! Bobcats win! O.k., I know it is not really that big of a deal - but it kind of is. A 7 game losing streak is rather significant (losing ~1/12 of your season, in a row), so pulling this one out was big. It is a good start to a stretch of 9 winnable games (opponents are either barely over .500 or below).
Gerald Wallace missed the game, having gone home for the funeral of his father - thoughts and prayers are with Gerald and his family. In his absence, the Bobcats started the game big, with Juwan, Emeka, Boris, Raja, and Raymond. Raja ended that quickly, getting ejected early on. And Juwan played just 26 minutes, leaving the bulk of Gerald's minutes to Matt Carroll, who responded with a solid night of 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Charlotte played all of overtime with D.J., Raymond, Matt, Diaw, and Emeka - and it worked in a big way, as the Cats won the extra period by 9. In fact, had it not been for overtime, the Bobcats would have been looking at far poorer offensive numbers for the game. In overtime, they scored 16 points on 11 possessions, an efficiency of 145.5. During regulation, they were only at 95.9 (94 points on 98 possessions). Was the Bobcats lineup during overtime so much more offensively effective than the ones used during the rest of the game? No, it was largely a product of having a lead and Chicago needing to foul. Whatever the reason, we will take it.
Another number that took advantage of overtime? Boris Diaw's rebound rate. In regulation, he managed only 3 rebounds. In ot, he grabbed 4. I am not quite complaining, as I am glad he did boarded strongly in the extra time...but, it would be nice to see congruity in effort/results throughout.
Other numbers of note:
13 attempts for Boris, 12 for Emeka. I am good with that. Not sure I like having Raymond and D.J. lead the way at 17 and 16, but it worked tonight.
46-43. That is the number Charlotte was out-rebounded by. A big improvement over the last night's effort, considering that Chicago and Atlanta have pretty similar rebounding profiles.
11 turnovers total for Charlotte...but only 4 after the first quarter. Charlotte struggled early holding onto the ball early; Diaw in particular, as he had 3 turnovers in the first quarter. Fortunately, it was a wake-up call for the Cats and they improved dramatically over the rest of the game.
43 fta for Charlotte. Again, the number was padded at the end of ot, when Chicago was trying to get back in it. With that said, still a very impressive number, and demonstrative of an aggressive offensive night by the Bobcats.
In the immortal words of Lou Brown: "If we win today, that's two in a row. If we win tomorrow, that's called a winning streak. It has happened before." Change today into Friday, and tomorrow into Saturday, and you have the opportunity in front of the Bobcats. I should have waited until I did a preview for the Grizzlies game, I know - but the win has me in such good spirits I had to break out one of my favorites.
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