HeatCheck – The Jefferson Era

Jefferson and Co. hit the road briefly for their post-ASG return to the hardwood with a visit to Motor City.  Detroit at the time trailed the Cats by a mere half game for the 8th and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.  Jefferson continued his recent span of dominance by posting 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists, flirting with a triple-double in a crucial playoff battle.  It was the 6th time in the past 9 contests that Jefferson had scored at least 30 points.  The Bobcats seized control of the game early with a strong first quarter and never relented.  Lesser-known Josh McRoberts, a versatile forward for the Bobcats who won the starting PF job this year over Cody Zeller (the no. 4 pick in this year’s draft), posted a double-double of his own with 14 points and 10 boards to go along with 3-5 shooting from downtown.

After hanging 108 on the Pistons in Detroit, the Bobcats traveled back home the following night to play the Pistons yet again.  This time, it was Kemba Walker who dominated, although Jefferson still had a terrific game and did an even better job handling Drummond and Monroe down low.  Drummond had a monster 16 point, 22 rebound game in the first of the back-to-back set, but he settled for a pedestrian 8 points and 6 rebounds in the 2nd game as Jefferson and Charlotte’s bigs frustrated him all night long.  As for Walker, he had arguably his best game of his career, posting 24 points to go along with a career-high 16 assists (4 shy of Detroit’s assist total as a team for the game), not to mention 5 rebounds and 2 steals.  The Bobcats took this one running away, ending with a final score of 116-98 and moving 2.5 games ahead of Detroit in the crucial playoff battle.

After dominating Detroit, the Cats were home in a back-to-back against New Orleans and Memphis.  New Orleans proved to be a tougher test in the 4th quarter than they had really been all game.  With a 79-66 lead with 6:45 left in the game, Charlotte had all but put away the game en route to a 3rd straight win.  However, New Orleans rallied and scored the next 12 points in just over 3 minutes to bring the game within one.  After the game was tied 84-84, Jefferson and Walker combined for a 2-6 FT shooting performance from the 0:39 to the 0:16 mark, giving them a slight 1-point advantage (Eric Gordon made 1-2 FT during that timeframe).  Unfortunately for the Pelicans, they simply couldn’t make a shot down the stretch and Kemba hit 4 clutch free throws late to seal the victory.

Finally, the Grizzlies arrived in Charlotte.  The Bobcats had yet to have many key victories this year, although wins against the Mavericks and Warriors in February were nothing to scoff at, so the game against a Memphis team trying to claw into the playoffs in the West was huge.  Charlotte lived up to the challenge while not having to rely on Big Al to take the load.  Jefferson was held to 6 points (tying a season-low), yet the Bobcats were able to come away with a 92-89 victory against a stout Grizzlies team led by Mike Conley, Jr.  Walker had another huge performance with 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, yet the biggest factor was the 10-10 shooting night at the charity stripe that he provided.  As a team, the Cats shot 24-27 (88.9%) compared to the 17-22 (77.3%) night from the Griz.  The key to the victory was keeping the big 3 of Conley, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph in check, which the Cats were able to do by holding the group to 43 points together on 16-43 (37.2%) shooting.  The Bobcats have smothered teams on defense all year, and Saturday night was no exception.

Philadelphia started their post-ASG season with a visit from their eventual trade partner, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Tyler Zeller, center for the Cavs, had a monster 18 point, 15 rebound game for the Cavs and led them past the slumping Sixers en route to a 114-85 thrashing on Philly’s home court.  I don’t think the Fresh Prince would approve.  The reasons for the loss are clearly evident.  Cleveland outrebounded Philly 61-44 and dished out 11 more assists as well.  Philly’s shooting struggles were tough for them to overcome as well, as the team shot a terrible 35.6% from the field, with 22.7% from beyond the arc as well.  Philly also only made 18-27 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.

Fast-forward three days to Friday, and the Mavericks were in town.  While Dallas is clearly the better team right now, Philadelphia didn’t make this win easy.  Credit to Thaddeus Young, who had probably the best game of his season (and possibly his career) with a 30 point, 13 rebound, 6 assist, and 7 steal night (Michael Carter-Williams versus the Heat in the Sixers opener, anyone?).  However, the Mavericks were still able to come away with a 12-point victory against a squad that only played 8 guys the entire game, and neither one of the 8 being a true center or small forward.  It was quite an impressive loss, if you can have one of those, for a Sixers team aiming for a top 3 selection this June.

Philly then returned down to Earth on Monday after taking on Milwaukee, the team they’re competing with for the NBA’s worst record.  Despite hanging close early on, the Sixers lost control in the second quarter when the Bucks absolutely exploded for a 43-16 advantage in the quarter, effectively putting the game out of reach by halftime.  Milwaukee had 7 players in double figures, posted their highest point total of the season, and dominated the boards while shooting nearly lights out.  Through all of the embarrassment, there was another familiar bright spot for the Sixers.  Thaddeus Young posted another impressive line of 28 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals, and he also shot 11-19 from the field.  However, only four players scored in double figures, and the Sixers had another poor shooting performance from beyond the 3-point line, making it tough to win anywhere.