Bobcats lost to Orlando

Yesterday evening, 6 PM tip off, the Bobcats traveled to Orlando to face the Magic.  The revamped Magic mind you, not the same team that bounced the Bobcats in their only 4 playoff games, a revised squad with Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas.  Gilbert, in Bobcats Announcer Steve Martin’s words, had a “coming out party” last night.  Interesting, when you think of Arenas, you think 2 years removed from lighting up the league for 30-40 a night on ridiculous outside shooting.  MCL’s and all that, knee injuries, especially in the prime of an NBA career, tend to make visiting teams’ announcers call 16 points, for a “max contract” guy, a “coming out party.”

Charlotte trailed the entire game, falling behind by 5, then 6 then 7 and then 8.  Orlando just had this stiff-arm the entire game that the Bobcats couldn’t break.  It felt kind of like a bully holding a smaller kid by the head and letting him swing away.  Stephen Jackson had the second most points in the league last night, but as ESPN’s ticker told me, the rest of the starters trailed him by 33.  He’s lost his partner, and somebody has to step into the assistant scorers role.

Can I just go off on a tangent here?  Thanks.  Listen, Orlando pisses me off.  They just do.  When you think of the city, you think of manufactured happiness.  You think Disney and Universal and how they pumped out a bunch of water from swamps to make the malls, putt-putt courses and amusement parks.  When I think of the Magic team, I think the exact same thing.  The centerpiece, Dwight Howard, is some kind of forced entity.  Like he was made in a lab or something.  No one is that tall, that athletic and seemingly, that nice.  But then you hear things and you think he may not be that nice.  He’s got more technical fouls than Stephen Jackson, or anyone for that matter.  He pulls his pants down in bathrooms at popstar’s houses to show off to pornstars.  He’s just not what he seems.  His play is manufactured as well.  Bringing in Patrick Ewing, probably the best center from the mid-eighties until Shaq came in, even then he gave Shaq a run for his money a couple times, and going to work with Hakeem Olajuwon have given some legitimacy to his front court offensive game.  But even that seems manufactured, like he’s saying “Show me how to do it, I’ll copy you and then I’ll be as good as you,” to these legends of the game.

Their whole squad is manufactured, like they’re getting the perfect puzzle pieces together.  Howard does the rebounding, check that off.  Hedo will do the outside shooting and back a guy down in the half court, check.  J-Rich will fly to the basket and knock down a surprise three from time to time, check.  Arenas will provide depth and bench scoring, check.  Brandon Bass will be the big body to stick beside Dwight, check.  But they have no one to do the dirty work, and you don’t have roles that defined in the NBA every night like that.  Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way.  And Orlando knows it.  That’s why they’ve revamped their roster.

Back to the game, as much as Orlando gives me the creeps like Frankenstein’s monster put together from parts and pieces, the Bobcats have been unable to figure them out.  Orlando, against the Bobcats, are 18-8 overall, 16-2 in the past 4 seasons (including playoffs).  that’s just ridiculous.  2 wins out of a possible 18 over the past 4 years, against a division opponent?  How did I not realize this before?  This is why Charlotte vs Orlando isn’t national tv anymore, this is why we can’t consider them our greatest rival.  It was, at a time, Okafor vs. Dwight; Morrison vs. Reddick; 1989 expansion city vs 1989 expansion city.  Now it’s, big bully vs. little weak nerd.

So the game last night, went much as you would expect if I had been able to do a preview (thank you Time Warner).  Orlando, while odd and offputting, still trounces the Bobcats, no matter the roster of either team.

I was interested to see how the new guys would be used.  Przybilla came in with 4:11 left in the first, in relief of Kwame Brown and immediately fouled Dwight Howard.  Can we just, for a moment, say how hard it is to change teams.  Add to that, your first game is facing Dwight Howard and you’re a center, with a bum knee.  Yikes.  Przybilla played alright, grabbing an offensive rebound before committing his second foul and thus being benched in favor of Najera.  He didn’t look lost or out of place, didn’t look foreign wearing the Bobcats uniform.  He was easy going with his new teammates, and worked hard to cover Dwight Howard.  He’ll contribute, probably along the same lines as Tyson Chandler last year.  Yep, I said that.  he finished the game with 0 points, 6 rebounds and 4 fouls.

DJ White and Dante Cunningham are going to contribute as well.  I’d look to them as sort of Tyrus Thomas lite.  They’re power forwards, long and athletic, that will make plays, but may not always know the right play to make.  White with 4 points, on 1 of 3 shooting, got to the line in his 10 minutes, which I like.  Cunningham spent his 6 minutes adjusting his Rip Hamilton mask, but did score on one of his two shots and had an assist.  Both guys had 2 fouls each, so they were playing defense but still a little lost in transition and spacing.

While we’re on transition, the Bobcats were horrible in their transition defense.  They had 2 fewer turnovers than Orlando (14-12, nothing to be proud of) but the Magic scorched the Bobcats 19 to 8 in fast break points.  It would be a rebound, an outlet, and an oop.  Just pretty much whenever they wanted.  Nothing the Bobcats could do against it.

The issue here is, the Bobcats face Orlando 2 more times this season.  That’s 2 out of the 23 games left, and things are tight for that final playoff spot.  Guys like Carroll, Najera and Henderson, if they’re going to get around 20 minutes each, need to find their offense because good Ol’ Uncle Gerald ain’t there anymore to do a weak-side block and a dunk to get them hyped up.  It’s all on their shoulders, and you notice, Nazr Mohammed didn’t ask anybody last night on Twitter about the new guys, he asked about Hendo and Matt.

We’ll see how this all shakes out going forward, once the new guys actually get to Charlotte, have a few practices.  Maybe Cunningham and White can elevate the games of the rest of the reserves.  Sadly, to finish that thought, I don’t think Przybilla will challenge Kwame for his starting spot, but there isn’t a huge dropoff, so we’re fine to finish the season with him as backup.

This road trip continues Wednesday at Denver, Friday at the Lakers and Saturday, visiting an old buddy in Portland.  Denver is tough, playing much like the Bobcats did with a depleted roster, they actually beat Boston.  The Lakers, well, they’re the Lakers, but the Bobcats have such a good record against them, we’ll see if it’s all Wallace related.  Portland, while they lost to Altanta last night, their fans gave Gerald Wallace a rousing ovation when he entered the game and got his first rebound.  They will figure it out, but I just hope they don’t have it figured on Saturday.