The Charlotte Bobcats won their sixth straight game Sunday night and the degree of difficulty on this one may have been the highest of the six: No Gerald Wallace. On the road. Against Orlando, a team that generally cleans the Bobcats' clock.
Yet Charlotte took it, 96-89, and -- as of now -- is a scant .001 ahead of Miami and sits in sixth place in the NBA playoff standings at 34-31. If the playoffs began today, Charlotte would face No.3 seed Atlanta in a first-round series.
I wasn't in Orlando, but watched a good bit of this one on TV, listening to Steve Martin and Dell Curry. Here are 3 things I really liked about the Bobcats' performance:
1) Stephen Jackson, Alpha male. Sometimes, the Bobcats need Jackson to turn down the testosterone a bit. Not Sunday. Without Wallace's high-flying antics, Charlotte needed all the Jack it could get. Jackson always looks like he thinks he's the best player on the court. And even though he isn't a lot of the time, his belief that Charlotte should win games really helps.
2) Defending Dwight. Although Dwight Howard got his -- 12-of-14 for 27 points -- the Bobcats' Theo Ratliff and Tyson Chandler played him well enough that the rest of the Magic really didn't get theirs. And they rebounded well enough against Howard that he didn't just dominate the glass and alter every other Bobcat shot, as Howard is prone to do (Rick Bonnell writes more about this in his fine game story).
3) Boris Diaw. A very effective game for Diaw, who had a relatively quiet 10 points but hit a huge shot in the fourth quarter, went 4-for-5 from the field and had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The Bobcats were plus-13 when Diaw was on the court.
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9 years ago
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Michael Jordan made some bad moves when he was the general manager in Washington that have been well publicized. But this guy desrves credit for paying Gerald Wallace to stay here, and bringing in Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson, and landing Larry Brown. Coach Brown repeatedly says that M J is the only reason why he's here. Tyrus Thomas is a good addition as well, and Tyson Chandler has played better as of late. This is a good team period.
I think you meant dulcet unless you're calling Steve Martin a zither. Nonetheless all good points. Go cats!
Curry: what a shot by Pietrus!
Martin: Steven Graham at the FT line...Reminds me of graham crackers, I'm hungry!
Both: Chuckle snort.
Dell Curry is the most unenergetic color commentator in the NBA...he sucks!
To anon 11:35 p.m. -- Great comment! I've changed that in post -- Steve Martin is a lot of things, but he's not a musical instrument, zither or otherwise. (I had mistakenly referred to his "dulcimer" tones rather than his dulcet tones in earlier version of the post -- that one came from typing too fast late at night).
Please stop with the "Jordan made mistakes in Washington" crap. EVERY GM in the league has made mistakes. Stop acting like MJ is the only one.
Scott,
Diaw scores 9 points and not 10 quiet points as written by you scott.
About Dell and Steve: they may not be great, but glad for what you have. I have watched many Bobcats games where the announcers were the opposing team's. Compared to them, Steve and Dell are amazing. I've heard these other announcers call us the Hornets on multiple occasions. Trust me, Steve and Dell aren't that bad.
Steve and Dell are two well spoken and knowledgeable announcers. They love the Bobcats and the city of Charlotte and that is refreshing when all the national media does, if they even mention the Bobcats, is glass over the good things they are doing here. Steven Jackson and Gerald Wallace are the two great players but Raymond Felton is the glue that holds this team together.
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