Bobcats Collapse in the 4th at Oklahoma City

The Bobcats let the opposing team get out on a run in the fourth quarter again.  No I’m not cutting and pasting from previous games, this is the Oklahoma City Thunder game it is the 18th of March and I’m pissed.  13-0 run over 5 minutes for the Thunder in the fourth quarter.  Stephen Jackson hit a three with a minute and a half or so left to end the bleeding, on a play that saw Kevin Durant leave the game with either a shoulder or collar bone injury.

The Thunder have just gotten their 6th straight victory, not a letdown from their win over the Heat and road trip out East.  On a night when the Bobcats needed a win or some confidence at least, they lost badly in the fourth quarter and looked bad doing it.

6:47 remaining, the Bobcats trailed by 2.  Over the next 6:47, Oklahoma City 18, Charlotte 3.  Yikes.  Just incredible the turnovers, the bad shots.  Guys looking at each other like they just met and this was a pick up game against the 95-96 Bulls.  DJ Augustin, Tyrus Thomas and Boris Diaw all standing around letting Stephen Jackson chuck up shots, make bad passes and then they would look at each other like “You were supposed to go that way!” or “You know I like the ball around my knees on a bounce pass, NOT the way you just did it.”  Pass the buck, pass it on and pass it on again.

What I don’t understand is, while DJ White got you within 2 on 9 straight points, he gets called for a foul and, get this, his first foul of the game, and you put in Boris Diaw?  How about just shooting yourself in the ankle because the foot is too easy?  Come on Pops Silas!  This is the first time I’ve really questioned him and it’s blowing my mind.  Yeah, Boris had 13, but he had 10 of those at halftime!  DJ White comes in, gets you from 8 points back to 2 points back, all by himself and you pull the guy?  For DIAW!?

If you watched the game, from that point it’s all Durant, Harden and Westbrook.  Durant with 6 from that 6:47 mark, Harden with 4, and Westbrook with 6.  I watched the Thunder telecast and they named Serge Ibaka their player of the game because he had 12 points and 13 rebounds on the game.  13 rebounds is 5 more than the Bobcats highest rebounder, Kwame Brown.  Kwame was utterly useless as Silas tried him out in the fourth quarter.  He had 35 minutes in the game, which is 12 more than his average and probably 10 more than his usual 2 minutes of the fourth (unofficial guess stat, brought to you by Andrew-Made-Up-Stats.com).

Stephen Jackson was horrible.  Think about this, he hit 4 three pointers, 12 points, 4-4 from the free throw line, 4 points.  He had 18 points overall, off of 18 shots, so he only made one two point bucket!  What in the whating what world is he whating thinking?!  Pressure is getting its vengeance on ol’ #1.  9 attempts behind the arc for Jack.  The League average is just below 18 attempts per game, PER TEAM!  He was 1 for 9 from inside the arc….ONE FOR NINE!  Excruciating!

Gerald Henderson played the fewest minutes of any starter because he took the fewest shots and scored the fewest points but…he was the only one playing any defense, especially on Kevin Durant.  KD had 8 at halftime, but he finished with 25.  He played all but 7:12 of the first half, 16 minutes and 48 seconds, KD had 8, you following me?  He played 13 minutes and 12 seconds in the 2nd half and KD had 17.  His plus/minus for the game was -18, so it’s not glaring, but I don’t think that KD had really figured him out to the point he wouldn’t have had as much success against Dante Cunningham.  You’re trading offense for defense, and offense won out.

61% from the free throw line, that you can chalk up to 4 misses for Kwame.  I would have played hack-a-Kwams all night if I were Scott Brooks.  That’s atrocious.  2-6 and he was 50% from the “field” which for Kwame Brown, “field” is that little area where offensive fouls don’t count.

Alas, there was DJ Augustin.  4 of 12 from the field.  A chucker to rival all chuckers.  I had a revelation tonight.  When DJ Augustin feels like he’s responsible for the offense, that may not be a good thing.  He’s like the high school kid with the best handles, that the coach or whoever deems “DJ brings the ball up,” and no matter what, if there is a fast break, DJ calls for the ball so he can bring it up, no matter the flow of the offense.  If the offense isn’t flowing straight from his hands, it’s like he doesn’t want to be involved in the play at all.  On nights like tonight, when his shot is off (way off in some cases, I think I saw 2 air balls from him), it is a huge detriment to the team.

I know straight-up, unadjusted plus/minus is frowned upon in many basketball circles, when it’s glaringly obvious, you have to scratch your noggin as to the line-up and minutes allotted by the coach.

Give the bench a chance!  Come on!  Livingston 2-5 shooting, played great defense on Westbrook but 14 minutes to DJ Augustin’s 40?!  DJ White, we discussed, he only scored in the fourth quarter but look at the rebounds!  4 was a lot for this team tonight!  Dante Cunningham, 18 minutes, a tidy 10 points on 5-6 shooting?  And again!  The rebounds!  The Bobcats accounted for 16 turnovers and only 3 of those could be charged to the bench.  Maybe if they had the minutes, they could run up that many turnovers as well.  That would be the argument of a nay-sayer.  Numbers don’t lie and neither do my eyes.

Just astounding how bad the Bobcats were in the fourth quarter.  17 to 25, 9 points out of DJ White, 3 for Tyrus Thomas and two for Cunningham, but please, fellas, that’s nice and all but go ahead sit down.  Let Jack and Kwame get rolling.  5 minutes later, the Bobcats are down 15 rather than 2 and there’s only about 105 seconds left….

I don’t want to say “It was all Bobcats bad.  Thunder just there to pick up pieces.”  If I said that, I’d be talking like a caveman.  It’d be true, but if I said it like that, I’d sound like a caveman and I don’t want to do that.

In all seriousness, as impressed as I am and the league is in the talent the Thunder have amassed, they still let the Bobcats hang for 41 minutes.  Serge Ibaka was the only one really turned on tonight, points, rebounds and 5 blocks ain’t no joke.  Durant came up with the points needed in the spot they needed it.  Harden kept the total up when Westbrook and Durant weren’t.  It was balanced, they’re young, they’re hungry and they’re going to make waves in the next few years, you can count on that.

Before I neglect something, just remember, the Bobcats were in the game with about 7 minutes to go.  The Thunder won a category that baffles the mind, in a huge way.  Fast Break Points.  19 to, gulp….2.  One break where the Bobcats converted to at least 9 for the Thunder.  It’s not like the Thunder didn’t turnover the ball to give the Bobcats chances, they had 13 turnovers to the Bobcats 16, which isn’t glaring enough to say “19 to 2 on the fast break.”  I just can’t believe it.

Worst of all, salt and vinegar and acid and more salt into a gaping fourth quarter split open wound, the Pacers won tonight….against Chicago.  The Bulls might be the team that either the Bobcats or, more likely after tonight, the Pacers will face.  The Bobcats beat Chicago twice in a week but Chicago exacted their revenge.  Indiana has beaten the Knicks twice in the last week and Chicago, that’s way better than the Bobcats’ answer in beating Portland and Toronto and nobody else in the last 3 weeks.  Momentum, if there is such a thing in the limp to the last spot, has swung to Indiana.

The Bobcats face San Antonio tomorrow.  The Spurs have 5 more wins than anybody and just 2 short of doubling the Bobcats’ win total.  Wonder how that one will play out?  Check Back for the preview!