Jeff Adrien Sighting! I've been screaming for him since the Atlanta loss. Adrien produced 2 points and a rebound in 5 minutes of playing time. If he had played all 48, that would have been 19 points and 9 rebounds, right? Give me more Adrien! – TSP Andrew
(Courtesy Jim Mone – AP)
Special thanks to Doug Branson from @PodCats for covering the recap last night.
One quarter. In a majority of our losses this season it really has come down to one quarter. One brutal, awful, nasty quarter. On Friday against the Timberwolves in Target Center it was the second quarter where our offense, and more importantly our defense, completely abandoned anything that resembled professional basketball.
Outscored 39-20, our reserves simply couldn't stand up to the likes of Alexi Shved, Ronnie Turiaf and J.J. Barea. It's unfair to blame the reserves in all honesty, though they did let a close game slip into a ten point deficit in what seemed like an instant. The real tragedy was our inability to stop any action in the paint, Nikola Pekovich finished with 26 points on 10-14 shooting. The wide open lane eventually spread to open looks from beyond the arc which an assembly of Wolves took advantage of.
Our defensive efficiency has been suspect ever since injuries to Jeff Taylor and MKG began to expose harsh realities in the interior. Al Jefferson and Josh McRoberts simply could not hang with man-beast Pekovich and a motivated Kevin Love. They can't shoulder all of the blame either, as the Bobcats were dominated in all of the "effort stats." 54-40 in points in the paint and 20-2 in second chance points.
A lot of fans and even some writers tuned out after the second quarter so let me hit you with a few highlights:
*Props to the Wolves for overplaying on defense and banking on the fact that we wouldn't bury open shots over the course of four quarters. That's a gamble any hedge fund manager worth his ilk would take.
*That ridiculous Hendo layup was pretty neat. The ball pulled a Tony Hawk and did a sweet grind before falling in.
*SILVER LINING: CDR had another solid game and gets the Papa John’s Pizza Play of the Game for banking in the ninetieth point and securing half off pizza for Charlotte. It's not the half-off pizza we DESERVED, but it is the half-off pizza we NEEDED.
I agree with my co-host Spencer Percy (@QCHSpencer), the Bulls game tonight will be huge for our team confidence and will really signal where this season is heading, to the playoffs or in the tank.
Doug Branson is the host of PodCats, a Bobcats-only podcast on TDB Sports Network. Learn more and listen to them live at tdbsports.com/podcats
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