The Charlotte Bobcats, mediocre in loss to Portland

Without Stephen Jackson, of course Gerald Wallace on the other team, Tyrus Thomas has missed 6 long weeks, veterans like Nazr Mohammed and even DeSagana Diop to some extent, gone…this team is without leadership on the court.  Leading scorers from last night, DJ Augustin, Gerald Henderson, until Paul Silas took over, were castoffs and alsorans on Larry Brown’s team.  Silas brought them up on the rotation, made them stronger on the court and gave them confidence as young players but they aren’t ready to be “THE” guys on this team.  Jackson’s hamstring has been goofy for a few weeks, finally came to a head against LA and he has been “shut down” until it’s right.  He’s good for 25-30 points a game with Gerald Wallace gone.  There is no one that is ready to fill that offensive hole.

All excuses, in my mind anyway.  That whole introductory paragraph is negated by the Bobcats’ 2nd quarter last night.  They took a lead of 5 points.  They took a lead in the third quarter as well, after trailing 35-40 at halftime.  They showed, the Henderson, Augustin, Diaw/White, Brown/Przybilla, DMcGuire/whoever, lineup, showed that they could play against a top 5 team in the West.  With All-Stars and strong youth and some new player in their 6th man role, even their best player (prior to knee injury) coming off the bench, Portland is a solid strong team.  The Bobcats clamped down on defense, played solid enough offense and kept the game close throughout the first, second and the beginning of the third quarter.  Over the last 19 minutes of the game, the Bobcats were outscored 24 to 49.  That’s “doubled your score…clap,clap,clapclapclap” over the final quarter and a half.

How did they let it get so bad?  Looking at that final 19 minutes:  5 for Livingston in the end of the third, none in the 4th.  4 for Henderson over the last 5 of the third and first 2 of the fourth, nothing else.  DJ Augustin with 3 free throws, that is all.  DJ White scored 5 in the final quarter…nice out of the young, underused player.  Meanwhile, 7 for Rudy Fernandez, 10 for Brandon Roy, 12 for Lamarcus Aldridge and 3 of Patrick Mills’ 6 three pointers, and that’s all she wrote.

The Bobcats, you could tell, got way out of their game either by Portland’s defense, their picks on offense which led to some nice rolling and dunking or layups, or the officiating.  As a fellow blogger said on Twitter last night “Complaining about officiating = #FAIL” but 13-25 on attempts and some of the out of bounds calls and whatnot, just make you scratch your head as a fan.  They also get your head right out of the game as if you’re Stephen Jackson, if you’re a Bobcats player.  Frustrating.

But as I said, they had the ability to keep the game close, but these players, Henderson, Augustin, Cunningham, White and who am I forgetting?  Oh yeah, Diaw.  Diaw, once thought to be the most versatile player on the squad and thus, unnecessary to trade, has disappeared. He seems to have no desire to be involved.  2 points last night, 4 in LA, 2 in Denver, 11 against Orlando (breakout performance), 2 against Sacramento (of 8 total players for the Bobcats to play).  Does Boris miss Wallace more than anybody?  What’s the story here?  No one knows, not even Coach Silas and I’m sure he’s the one player that he’s been asked about more than any.  He just says “You can’t make somebody take shots.”  Well, get someone out there that will, if you have any desire to make the playoffs this season.

So, from last night, one positive, you can say that Gerald Wallace didn’t scorch his former team.  7 points in 27 minutes.  Compare that to DJ White’s 12 in 26 or Dante Cunningham’s 4 in 22, oh wait.  I also took away that Portland’s announcers, Mike Barrett and Mike Rice, are such horrible homers and absolute schils for the Blazers, it makes it unlistenable-to if you’re anything but a Blazers fan.  They were incredulous about Dante Cunningham, a player who averaged about 20 minutes a game “On a good Western Conference team” not getting but about 5-10 minutes in his 4 games as a Bobcat.  They also bashed the Bobcats ability to draw attendance.  “Ha, this is a team, who just traded their one player that even brought in fans, and they’re a team who only brought in maybe 75%, 30th in the league over their time.  To say they don’t draw well, when we’ve been there, haha, is an understatement.”  Real pros, awesome job, this is sarcasm.

The Bobcats returned home late last night/early this morning, and will face Blake Griffin and whoever throws him alley-oops on Monday.  Home cooking, a new player in Garrett Temple (10 day contract from the D-League Erie Bayhawks), and later in the week, maybe Tyrus Thomas, could the Bobcats bounce back from a 4 game road trip where they lost by a combined 86?  Indiana is giving the Bobcats reason to be hopeful of a playoff berth, it could work out.