In my regular seats for tonight’s game. After making the Bobcat Bet, I got tickets to both games this year. That being said – there’s no conflict. Toronto needs to win this game. Charlotte’s dropped five in a row (much to my chagrin), so adding one more to help my hometown squad is fine by me. After tonight, they gotta start winning.
No Bosh again. And with Phoenix on Wednesday and Boston on Friday, let’s hope this is the last ‘just to be safe’ game before he makes his return. And maybe no Bargnani or TJ either. Not that the stinger’s stopped TJ from running his mouth (Note: Joey should just be happy he doesn’t have Rasheed as a teammate.) And without the lynchpin, er, focal point of our offense (sorry Jamario and Gerald Wallace), making the extra pass and hitting our open looks are simple things we must do to get this W. Look for big nights from Jamario Moon, who competes against his high school rival Gerald Wallace for the first time ever professionally and Rasho, who doesn’t have anyone his size or strength to contest his presence down low. He’s not our typical, mobile offensive post threat, but he played exceptionally well in the Eurobasket and is capable of putting up a double-double.
Rasho’s been to the line only 4 times this season, and hasn’t missed a shot. The Bobcats will need to foul him tonight to keep him out of the post. (Of course, all this goes out the window if we play ‘small ball’, but I really wanted to post this pic of Rasho shooting free-throws. He looks like he’s crying.)
But Charlotte’s decimated too, with Sean May, Adam Morrison, Othella Harrington, and everyone else limping, whining, or just simply shitting the bed. Despite the addition of high-scoring Jason Richardson, the Bobbies haven’t found a way to consistently score. And it’s hard to win without outscoring your opponent. This stagnancy might have something to do with Ray Felton, who’s trying to get to the next level… but his elevator seems to be stuck between two floors. I snag him in every fantasy draft because I like his game, but he’s hardly dependable. And that’s why I never win in fantasy hoops. Okafor is an oustanding young post player but needs help from guys like Primoz Brezec and Sean May to limit his minutes (and his fouls). Unfortunately, May is injured, and Brezec is just plain bad.
Sean May, pictured above keeping in game shape despite season-ending knee surgery.
We’ve got to close out on shooters like Wallace, Richardson, and Carroll behind the arc, or they’ll get hot and kill us with 3’s (and we’ve seen that before). Help needs to come when Wallace and Richardson put the ball on the floor and slash to the net, clogging the lanes and forcing them to take bad, off-balance shots, which they both seem to love.
When the Basketball Gods (not to be confused with the Basketball Godfather) deliver an injury-ravaged team fighting to hover around .500 to your home court, you have to put them down quick and without emotion, like a suffering dog. And that’s exactly what I expect to see tonight. Hell, the Bobcats even lost to Chicago. That one made my head hurt.
Finally, because of this weekend’s discovery of The Motherload™, we’re introducing ‘GIRL TALK’, a new feature in every Game Day post, where we pick a player from the opposing team and highlight some of the more ‘delicate’ comments posted by the women who obsess over them.
Girl Talk: Jeff McInnis
for all yall that say jeff has a gurl prove it.. im tired of fake wanna bes who claims to wanna be important or know something on some one mind your buisness…im his fiancee’ now swollaw that…………..and i love him with all my heart and soul……so he is my McNaasty now….hate on that shit….
Fuck yeah, ‘swollaw that!’ Let’s hope this settles the ‘Who’s McNasty is he?’ debate once and for all.
