Bobcats Beat the Cavs for 4 Straight

I’m going to just give you some quick hits here:  Ties the season’s longest win streak.  Indiana won so ‘Cats are still a game back of 8th spot (plus the tiebreak, ok, ok, got it geeks?).  Boris Diaw done up and got himself an offensive game, complete with aggressive drives and kick outs or dump offs once the defense collapses on him.  Kwame Brown came back, his daughter is well enough and he slept on a tiny couch, so he got 16 points, 2 blocks and 8 rebounds.

Stephen Jackson tweaked the hamstring before halftime, played 15 minutes, 4 shots, 3 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds, which impresses me somehow but he might be shut down.  He didn’t return to the game after halftime.

Two guys got all the assists tonight for the Bobcats.  Boris Diaw with 11 and DJ Augustin with 12 and they combined for 0, that’s ZERO with a z, turnovers.  23 assists, 0 turnovers.  Think about that.  When Larry Brown was here early this season, the Bobcats averaged something like 17 turnovers per game, just short of worst in the league.  Totaled 8 tonight, with no one having more than two.

Garrett Temple might not quite be ready for primetime, but he showed flashes the other night against Milwaukee and he’s a defensive force at the #1.  He had 2 steals tonight.  But remember I said the 2 turnovers was the highest, it was Garrett.  However, He’s got a place going forward, I hope he is invited to camp, if there is a camp.

Ryan Hollins, who I was really excited for, had a great night last night against Chris Bosh but tonight against Kwame Brown, he got abused and didn’t score.  Kwame, I think I already said this, but he had 2 blocks, he’s not a shot blocker!  He too only had 1 turnover, with his tiny, mini-hands.  But yeah, Hollins looked how he looked when he played at the same building just in the Bobcats uniform.  Only this time, it took 32 minutes to get his 4 points and 5 fouls, rather than the 6 we were accustomed to back in the day.

JJ Hickson is gonna be someone in the league, I really believe that.  He had 20 points but 7 rebounds, which would be good if someone else on Cleveland would have gotten a few more.  Then again, neither team lit the world on fire from the boards and no one on the Bobcats had more than Kwame’s 8.

Matt Carroll, who I had written off earlier this year, is contributing off the bench.  He had 9 tonight, 10 against Milwaukee, 10 against New York.  You can’t say he has no place, even when/if the team gets healthy, he’s crafted his game to where you have to respect his driving ability as well as the outside shot and he’s no long a liability on defense.

The Bobcats currently have 7 players on the injury report, including Kwame.  6 guys hurt and the rest nicked up and probably have nagging issues.  Yeah, DJ Augustin played, but he fell hard again.  Yeah, Jack went, but he injured it to the point he doesn’t need to go out ther again and further injure himself.

Cranston tweeted “You look out there and realize DJ White, Dante Cunningham and Matt Carroll need to make shots to win games for #Bobcats and chuckle a bit.”  Yeah, but they get it done!  I think, if DJ White and Dante Cunningham can contribute and effect some close games, the front office deserves a lot of credit for unearthing these guys who were buried deep on contenders benches.

The Cavs had a chance to win, they were close, hell the whole game was close and neither team pulled away.  At one point I heard Steve Martin say there had been something like 7 lead changes in the third quarter?  But alas, with 13 seconds left, the Cavs get the ball off a Boris Diaw free throw miss, dribble down and somehow, be it Dante Cunningham’s defense, poor planning on the part of Sessions or indecision but Ramon Sessions went to a jump, landed on both feet with the ball at his chest, unable to dribble, unable to shoot, unable to pass and called a timeout with 2 and a bit left on the clock.  They inbound the ball, it goes to Parker who turns, sets, Dominic McGuire somehow gets over and blocks his shot just enough.  That’s a man’s man play for DMac.  2 points on 1-1 shooting, 1 rebound, and that block, and he earned his paycheck for the season tonight, to me anyway.

Other than the West, which has 4 teams with win streaks of 4 or more (Lakers with 7!  Can you say peaking at the right time), The Bobcats lead the East in terms of streaks.  If we could just get the damn Pacers to lose one of these nights.