Charlotte Bobcats at Orlando Magic 12/29

[ziggy]

This season its finally happened, Dwight Howard has become the young Shaq-like player that will likely dominate the league for the next 10 years.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w301/bobcatsplanet/07allstar_dhdunksticker.jpg

The Bobcats are 0-5 in back to backs
1-9 on the road
Our offense has looked out of sync
and Dwight Howard always pounds us.

Somebody please give me a reason to feel good about tonight's game.

[Muttley]

uh... umm... hmm. Don't know what to say Ziggy. You pretty much hit the nail on the head (or would that be "put the DH-sticker on the backboard"?).

All I can hope for tonight is that JRich keeps hitting, GW keeps trying, and Emeka wakes up out of this funk he's been in and unleashes some serious force of anger all over Dwight.

It could happen...

[Bobcat4Ever]

Okafor better freakin wake up or Dwight will make him look like an ass tonight.

[spectre]

According to Bonnell's latest blog we're going small...Touche' in at PG and Nazr off the bench. I understand his reasoning for going smaller for a better matchup, but this is only 2 days later that he said he wanted to keep Felts at PG and use Hammer more.

If the coach is confused no doubt the players are.

[123together]

howard will prob go for 30 and 15 tonight haha.

but if we are going small id go with

felton
carroll
richardson
wallace
okafor or nazr

mcinnis should not be playing extended minutes for any nba team

[dav7z]

This is our main problem the coach has no idea what he wan'ts to do. It looks to me like Naz would match up better with Howard and OK and could stop Haslem,
We have been killed on the boards the first two games playing them . That line up makes no sence at all.
Side note Hollons has seemed to slow down Howard better than any other Bobcat because they can't seem to lob over him.
Can any one think of a positive of going small against the Magic?

[Dead_Real]

J-rich with 18 already damn good indeed hopefully he keeps it up.

[ammofan]

WOW!!! J-Rich with 18 at the end of quarter #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

[ammofan]

I hope he keeps it up!! He is going for 81 !!!!!

[wil]

okafor and felton are losing it for the bobcats in the third quarter with bunch of turnovers and bad shots.. i hope they just keep giving j-rich the ball!!! :afro:

[ziggy]

J-Rich played out of his mind tonight, but it wasn't enough...

We played a little better, but I don't care for this funky lineup at all.

[ohara831]

Great games by Wallace and J-Rich. Everyone else was pretty much garbage. I'm so sick of hammering on Ray and Okafor, I'm just going to say "the wanna-be's played again" and leave it at that.

I was pretty upset at first with why Sam would bring one of our best productive players - Nazr - off the bench wheb we would need him to counter Howard. To me, it was insane. but, considering that we somehow remained competitive through the game, it seems to somehow have been somewhat productive. I am confused as to how, but we stayed close throughout, so the lineup he used must have done something right. Did not see the game, so cannot speak to how it worked.

[x2pacalypse]

imho felton played solid tonight

13 and 7....pretty good numbers considering he wasn't playing point guard (i dont think, game wasn't on tv)

he shot about 48%..
okafor was shitty true, but he only had 6 shot attempts...i have a feeling mcinnis had a lot to do with this...he didn't do a good enough job of getting oak the ball, though that falls on all the players and vincent as well

we need to do some serious reconstruction on this team....but don't let that start with a 2 pg lineup again...that worked so well for us in the past :-\

[ohara831]

imho felton played solid tonight

13 and 7....pretty good numbers considering he wasn't playing point guard (i dont think, game wasn't on tv)

he shot about 48%..
okafor was shitty true, but he only had 6 shot attempts...i have a feeling mcinnis had a lot to do with this...he didn't do a good enough job of getting oak the ball, though that falls on all the players and vincent as well

we need to do some serious reconstruction on this team....but don't let that start with a 2 pg lineup again...that worked so well for us in the past :-\
__________________________________________________ ____

Ray's numbers are not that good. He is not cuttting the mustard. Okafor is just not shooting. He is getting the ball, but not shooting. He is not getting in position to shoot so that when he gets the ball, he ends up passing. He is taking only 5-8 shots per game. I am beginning to think he is afraid to shoot due to a lack of confidence. That is a killer for an NBA career if it is so. I hope that is not what is happening to him, but I wonder.

[TheBeagle]

Just poor D in the 2nd half. They just can't defend a screen and roll up top; it's painful to watch. We know it's coming, they know it's coming, but opponents still eat us alive.

Also, word is out throughout the league that we has such slow speed on D, and poor recovery with help defense, and they're eating us alive with that as well: just as Turkoglu who blew past JR probably 5 times in the 4th qtr alone, alone to be hacked by Mek or Nazr at the basket.

If there is a worse overall defense in the league, I haven't seen it.

[Fromage]

let's face it. we have more tools, and almost no better production.

and i'm tired of hearing people talk shit about ray. he's way down on the list of people who have disapointed me so far. for several weeks of this short season, he was the best guy we had on the floor.

[spectre]

let's face it. we have more tools, and almost no better production.

and i'm tired of hearing people talk shit about ray. he's way down on the list of people who have disapointed me so far. for several weeks of this short season, he was the best guy we had on the floor.



Heh, haven't you noticed? You're ok until you have a crappy game...then you're on notice. You have 2, then under the bus you go!!!

Ohara...48% isn't "good enough"? 5 assists while playing the SG doesn't cut the mustard? Yeah he had 4 TOs, but Crash had SEVEN!!!

I agree he didn't have a "good" game, but he's not a SG no matter what V might say (and how can we believe him...since 2 days ago he said Felton should ONLY play PG"?).

Nobody likes to lose, but we added talent in Jason Richardson yet we looked more lost then last year when Felton was also running the point. Somehow I doubt its the guy who scored 34 last night. Since most of us think Felton has been playing better this year than last I think it's pretty obvious the issue is the guy on the bench.

[Edrow]

let's face it. we have more tools, and almost no better production.

and i'm tired of hearing people talk shit about ray. he's way down on the list of people who have disapointed me so far. for several weeks of this short season, he was the best guy we had on the floor.



Heh, haven't you noticed? You're ok until you have a crappy game...then you're on notice. You have 2, then under the bus you go!!!

Ohara...48% isn't "good enough"? 5 assists while playing the SG doesn't cut the mustard? Yeah he had 4 TOs, but Crash had SEVEN!!!

I agree he didn't have a "good" game, but he's not a SG no matter what V might say (and how can we believe him...since 2 days ago he said Felton should ONLY play PG"?).

Nobody likes to lose, but we added talent in Jason Richardson yet we looked more lost then last year when Felton was also running the point. Somehow I doubt its the guy who scored 34 last night. Since most of us think Felton has been playing better this year than last I think it's pretty obvious the issue is the guy on the bench.


LOL! That is classic! I agree with you though, decent games mean a one way ticket to bus exhaust fumes at this point. Everybody is fair game. Hell, I might even throw myself under the bus for my lack of cheering during games.

-Edrow

[spectre]

Well I'll admit my frustrations come about from a lot of places and not just this board...so I should state flat out NO ONE should take offense personally. In fact...just take everything I post during this fiasco to automatically be preceeded with an apology!

I respect this board to actually have reasoned comments unlike most of the others, so I post here more. Most of the rest aren't worth the effort.

I've been saying it all along...until these players have DEFINED roles they're all going to struggle. We saw it thru the beginning of the season with JRich, and we're lucky that his game is based solely on shooting...because it's mostly on him in getting back to form. The other guys tho, Crash/Mek/Felton/Nazr/Hammer have to have a competent, consistent game plan in order to succeed.

We've been seeing a LOT of one on one basketball. That's not the players...that's the coach and his lack of a game plan.

[dnbman]

About the defined roles, I think you're absolutely right. And now that we have Nazr, that shouldn't be much of a problem.

PG: Felton then McInnis
SG: Richardson then Carroll
SF: Wallace then Dudley
PF: Okafor then Davidson
C: Nazr then Hollins

While we have guys that can play a few positions, I'd stick with this almost completely until everyone knows what they're supposed to do. Then if you want to tinker around with switching things up, you do it in practice and then get it right for the game.

Keetch: I know you said recently that you think Okafor is a true C, which he may be. The question then becomes can Nazr play PF? Those two are our best bigs and we need for them to coexist. Okafor seems more apt to play PF than Nazr, but I understand your concerns. Hopefully, if the coach gave them the defined roles, then we wouldn't have wide open guys underneath the basket for half the game.

[spectre]

As bad as Mek is guarding perimeter oriented 4s I think Nazr would be much worse. Crash should probably be moved to the 4 IMO when we play teams with guys like Lewis, but he's not a stellar man defender either. I still think Duds would work well in that equation (undersized 4 that plays tight man D).

My question is why don't we at least TRY to make the other teams react to us vs. the opposite? Keep them both in there and have one defend Howard and the other protect the paint against the drive? Instead of using our strengths we give them up.

DNB absolutely...and only go from it when it's obviously not working. Even then I think we'd be better off sinking and swimming with a set rotation in the long run.

[ohara831]

spectre, my friend, we are all frustrated with the Bobcats right now. But Crash has more assists than either McInnis or Ray. He is our leading assist man in recent games when he should not be as concerned with that as with scoring and rebounding. He is doing everything for us right now, and that will take its toll later in the season. That is why it upsets me with our PG situation. Yes, J-Rich sucks on Defense, but his offense now is at least off setting it. If we can get someone with that kind of fire power who can play some Defense, then I would much rather play him than J-Rich. Until such time, we are stuck with him. I agree that Nazr is a Center and cannot play the 4. Okafor is a 4 who cannot shoot outside of 5 feet. He can guard well inside, but not on the perimeter when another more talented 4 takes him out there. But my biggest concern with Okafor is my fear that he is mentally being taken out of the games. He seems timid and afraid to shoot, which will kill us. He's shooting less than 10 shots a game the last several games, and it just seems he is afraid to shoot now. Troubling is not a strong enough word for what I fear about Okafor right now.

[spectre]

Yeah Ohara I agree...but all that (Mek) boils down to confidence, which points directly at the coach. Mek has none and we're seeing it played out on the floor.

I like Crash distributing the ball, and that's been by design...not by accident. Felts crosses the timeline and gives it up first thing to him at the top of the circle. Not every time obviously, but it seems more and more.

He's the most explosive of all our players with the best chance of finishing. Who better than him will command the worry of the defense enough to commit to him rather than their own man? Those 7 TOs tho pretty much wiped out his assists, but I'm more than willing to take it as eventually it'll pay dividends down the road hopefully.

[ohara831]

Yeah Ohara I agree...but all that (Mek) boils down to confidence, which points directly at the coach. Mek has none and we're seeing it played out on the floor.

I like Crash distributing the ball, and that's been by design...not by accident. Felts crosses the timeline and gives it up first thing to him at the top of the circle. Not every time obviously, but it seems more and more.

He's the most explosive of all our players with the best chance of finishing. Who better than him will command the worry of the defense enough to commit to him rather than their own man? Those 7 TOs tho pretty much wiped out his assists, but I'm more than willing to take it as eventually it'll pay dividends down the road hopefully.
__________________________________________________ _

You know, I have not really considered that the Okafor confidence thing could be linked directly to the Coach. Interesting idea. I think players give the ball to Crash so often since he is clearly out most lethal offensive weapon, although recently J-Rich has started to heat up.

I think why I get so pissed with the PG issue is that it means we have to play 2 PGs on the court at once. That leaves out someone else, be it J-Rich, Nazr, Okafor or Crash. That is redundant and wasted space. You only need one PG on the floor at a time. When the Coach is playig them both together, then we lose another important player and that just drives me up a wall. I think this is why I hammer on the PG issus so hard.