Bobcats Initial Impressions

They never seem to have any problem providing accurate information on the tarholes.

 

I was there today. Bosh,4th quarter,game over.I still had a great time.

 

Cool thanks for the info. That's a trend I don't really like, but it's probably a response to what I imagine is a very small audience. It's a shame as I was raised on Steve Martin and Gil MacGregor giving a very rousing show on radio. Lauer did a good job, but in some ways it sounded like a high school production, as the play-by-play has to stop at the interjection of any stats. There just seems a better flow with two guys giving the information.

One time Lauer had to cough, and the whole show went silent, he had to block out the surprisingly loud crowd noise.

 

It was another disappointing game last night, the Cats aren't giving Charlotte much to cheer for in this homestand. The lone bright spot was Adam Morrison off the bench, I guess since his game was never built on mobility the knee injury didn't really rob him of much. Last night he looked as mobile as ever, he knifed through the lane and shot a sweet high-arcing touch shot. A couple of possessions later he made nearly the same move and had a great pass to Richardson (I think) on the baseline for a dunk. A couple of possessions later he had a perfect baseball pass to Wallace on a break. Gerald inexplicably fell down and the pass didn't result in the dunk it should have, it was nice vision by Morrison. I noticed him make a couple of nice touches on rebounds, tipping the ball to a teammate in the scrum.

He had 16 points and very easily could have had 6-8 more, he missed a wide open three late that was disappointing. The Cats played competitive in the first half against the Nuggets, getting a 10 point lead but had surrendered most of that before halftime. A terrible third quarter once again did them in, although they made a nice run again to get within 2 midway through the fourth.

Sean May is a joke, Nazr Muhammed hasn't contributed anything, and Emeka Okafor looks worse in the post than he did as a rookie.

 

only watched the second half. 3rd qt is where they fell apart as usual. May played about one minute. He fired up a brick right away, and had a rebound and a pretty nice pass to Felton in the post. yeah Felton. Okafor either needs some help or he is just lost in LB's offense. The Bobcats seem to settle for jump shots late in games with nobody in position to rebound.When they move the ball they get some good looks. DJ forced a few too many quick shots. Bobcats need some size in the paint. Nene and Renaldo Balkman had their way last night. J Rich had a solid game, and then I see that he had exploratory knee surgery today. great. I think he's out at least the Utah game.

 

Here is my impression of the Bobcats and it hasen't changed since they were created.

Move
To Las Vegas !!!


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That sucks, I hadn't seen that. He got jacked by one of Nene's elbows early in the game, had to come out for some stitches I believe. He did have a strong game though, started off the first quarter with three threes. If he's out for an extended time that makes it more difficult to part with Wallace.

As far as Okafor, it seems like they post him up about once a game. It's frustrating because I've seen him have an impact on the offensive end. It usually happens when he gets the ball early though, and like you said he looks lost. Even last night he had 5 blocks, but I never felt like he gave us the intimidation of say, Zo. Perhaps that comparison is unfair, but you would think with 5 blocks he would change a shot eventually. No one fears him on defense and his offense is as bad as ever.

Still, the stat they keep going back to is relevant, he is one of three guys to average a double double in pts/boards every year of the last four. Seems like that streak is in jeopardy now though.

 

They say they didn't find anything major with Richardson's knee, so he won't be out too long.

The main problem with Okafor is that he has absolutely no help. If we had another big man that could take some of the pressure off of him, his play would seem a lot more intimidating.

I think of him like a hockey goalie that faces 70 shots a night. He might stop 65 of them, but people don't notice those as much as they notice the ones that got past him. Okafor is the same way, people notice when he's being manhandled by bigger guys but don't notice that he's still pulling down a double double every night. He's not one of the great centers in the game, but he can be a very effective player. He just doesn't have the luxury of having the tools to do it with right now.

 

His rebounding is rock solid I will give him that. It would be nice to have a true big man to help him, Muhammed hasn't given any help all year (and we all know about Sean May.)

 

Went to see the Cats live tonight with some friends. The crowd is flat-out embarressing and quite frankly we're lucky the Cats are on the case for the arena lease. It's as bad or worse than the Hornets last days.

About the on-the-court action, they won without Richardson. DJ Augustin continued a great streak with 21 and Felton had 23. Good game and they led most of the way, although the Sixers definitely looked uninspired. Still, any win is a good win.