Road win eludes Bobcats in Chicago
November 8, 2009 by Matt Rochinski
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The Bobcats headed to Chicago on Saturday looking for their first road win of the young 2009-10 season riding the momentum of a 20-point win over Atlanta on Friday at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Charlotte was 9.9 seconds and three points away from sending the game into overtime against the Bulls, but Flip Murray’s 3-pointer was too strong. The Bobcats got new hope when Boris Diaw rebounded Murray’s miss and kicked it back out to Murray, whose second shot to send the game to overtime was just off target with 3.8 seconds remaining and Charlotte fell 93-90 at the United Center.
While the loss might sting for a little while, the Bobcats should take pride in the way they came out and played in the second half of a back-to-back against a Bulls team that has yet to drop a game at home and was coming off an impressive win in Cleveland on Thursday.
Charlotte didn’t show any signs of fatigue early on, jumping out to a 28-26 lead after the first quarter and taking a 53-46 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Bobcats then built their lead to 70-61 midway through the third before Chicago responded with a 20-2 run that extended into the fourth quarter and gave the Bulls an 81-72 lead with 9:14 remaining.
“We just had a tough start in that third quarter. That is the time where the game was decided,” said Tyson Chandler. “They just came out with more energy than us. They hit shots and we didn’t, and that decided the game. We had the game under control until that spurt they went on. We turned over the ball a lot and they were just livelier than us that whole quarter.”
Playing with tired legs, the Bobcats could have folded on the road, but instead battled back to cut the lead to 92-90 with 21.3 remaining thanks to a team-high 20 points from Diaw. Raymond Felton (14 points), Chandler (13), Gerald Wallace (12) and Vladimir Radmanovic (12) all finished in double-digit scoring, as well. But it wasn’t enough to counter a 39.5 percent shooting night and 18 total turnovers while going to the line eight fewer times (22-14) than the Bulls did.
“We were driving the ball and trying to get to the free throw line. They made shots and we got nothing,” said Bobcats Head Coach Larry Brown. “(Joakim) Noah (career-high 21 points with 16 rebounds) just played great for them. We had a chance… We just can’t have as many unforced errors as we did tonight. You need to keep driving the ball. We didn’t get to the bonus until the last minute of the game. It’s tough to win on the road that way.”
Charlotte now returns home to take on the Orlando Magic at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The Bobcats will be going for their fourth-straight win at Time Warner Cable Arena to start the season. Buy your tickets now.
8 Comments
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I think that all problem is in Tyson! He must dominate (look at him – he is the best athlete)!!! He must be the most powerful man in the team! He must be the strongest! He must make 10 rebounds and 20 points and 2-3 blocks REGULARY, consistenly! …If Tyson don’t wat it and he don’t want to improve and practise harder then other – team always were lose!!!
GUYS – what are you thinking about?… no, I know that you working hard all time on practice and I respect it… But this is not enough to win with Boston, Cleveland, Chicago or ORLANDO (next time)!
Michael Jordan would stop you losing if he in your team!!! )))
You looks like UNDERDOG! but with this STAR team you should not like it!
Team is realy STAR! …I don’t know what to say… Maybe you don’t realize this?
I see you and I see that team can win even CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!
….Play SMART and always in team!!!
It should have never come down to the 3 point shots. Some how we have to figure out a way to close out games when we have big leads. I hope the Bobcat coaches and players will look at that. We had a big lead and to give up a 20-0 point run is what lost the game. We did not play tough defense when we needed it. Noah’s offensive rebounds hurt us.
RJF
hahaiys! we need an scorer bobcats just get iverson.
he dont lyk memphis
allen iverson is the answer
his not happy in memphis. just get rid of him
u need in Iverson for this moment…Larry dont miss chanse…
Yeah! Realy Allen can feel good and can help his team only with you Larry Brown! I don’t know how you missed that chance…. And I don’t know why Allen (Iverson) chosen Grizzlies team?… We and he can got much bigger result if he would be here in Charlotte…
Can you guys imagine this all-star team:
- Tyson Chandler – C ;
- Boris Diaw – PF ;
- Gerald Wallace – SF ;
- Raja Bell – SG ;
- Allen Iverson – PG ;
and we have strong bench players too!
But we ofcourse understand that Allen can finished his career soon… But he need the ring… But you know what Larry? – Bobcats can win it! I tell you! The more so with Allen!
Tyson is not problem…problem as score…we need Iverson-the Answer…forget our questions
I think the Bobcats just need to close out better and possibly get a good scoring guy, maybe tracy mcgrady as his contract ends the coming summer? Other then that Gerald Wallace is definitly the best guy on that team