[Hov's Cats]

[Lamrock]

For who? (besides the Spurs)

[hova-]

Gerald Wallace and the Bobcats are looking to shake off a not so good November.

Week 6 (29th of November-5th of December)

It's December, Christmas is just three weeks ahead and the Charlotte Bobcats are finding themselves in a position where did not want to be. At 4-12 the team is still among the worst team in the league sharing this honor with the Philadelphia 76ers, who will come to town on Saturday. But before hosting the league's worst, the Bobcats will have to take on two tough tasks. They will host the Boston Celtics on Tuesday and after that head to New Jersey where they will face the Nets in Izod Centre on Thursday.
While the Celtics are underachieving but gave the Bobcats a huge loss in their last meeting on the Cats' season opener, Charlotte find themselves in a great position right now to surprise after two consecutive wins against the Cavs and the Wizards.
The New Jersey Nets will also be a tough task as they are ahead of the Celtics with a stellar 11-6 record. The Nets were also able to beat the Bobcats this season in a closer game though.
On Saturday then, the already mentioned 76ers will come to Charlotte in a game of the currently worst teams. Last time these teams met, the Cats grabbed their 2nd win of the season. "We're very confident that we can win all games this week. Everything is clicking better and we will rise in the rankings faster than most of you guys think", a really confident Stephen Jackson told media after the last training. He's been hot so far averaging 25.0 points per game.
We will see if the Bobcats can achieve their first winning week of the season.


no real preview guys, as I played against each team already and I also think that after the monthly recap you should know about these teams at least I hope so!

[Its_asdf]

Well I'm finally done with school for the semester and have moved back into my house so I have nothing to do. I'm happy to see that you have once again taken up doing an association and it looks like it's chugging along quite well.

As usual, the presentation is top notch. Loving the improvement on Belinelli also (my favourite on the Raptors), although he's playing absolutely putrid in real life.

[hova-]

Its_asdf, good to see you back. Thanks for the kind words. Belinelli is a very good offensive player but his D just sucks. I found it easy to score on him every time. Still you cannot leave him alone since his shot is money.

[cavs4872]

I can't wait to see how you do against New Jersey. I just can't imagine them playing better than the Celtics.

[hova-]

Gerald Wallace and the Bobcats upset the Celtics at Charlotte

Charlotte take down Celtics, Boston's struggling

Charlotte, December 1st

The Charlotte Bobcats were able to surprise another time as they beat the Boston Celtics at home, were they had already beaten the Cavaliers last week.
Charlotte was able to grab a lead in the first quarter thanks to streaking Stephen Jackson. He scored 9 points in the 1st. Another key for their strong opening quarter was the perfect three point shooting, 4-4.
The Celtics' Kevin Garnett, who started as C instead of still not completely recovered Kedrick Perkins, kept them in the game by scoring 12 points. Flip Murray, who came up big this game, finished a three point play to give the Cats a one point lead.
In the second quarter the Bobcats increased their lead to 11 despite Jackson grabbing to early fouls. Flip Murray came in and stepped up big. He scored 16 points in the second including two threes. At halftime the Bobcats were shooting .560% from the field. The Celtics could not find their stroke and only Rajon Rondo did well scoring 11 in the 2nd.
After halftime the Celtics came out of the gates hot. They had a 9-2 run to start the third and Ray Allen gave them the lead with 4:19 left in the 3rd. He had 7 points in the third. The Cs led by one after three.
The game went back and forth as especially Paul Pierce played great in the last quarter. Boston led by three with 1:29 left to play in the game when Stephen Jackson had a decent three point play to tie the game.
Jax was on fire and screaming after getting the And1. The Celtics came back and gave the ball to Paul Pierce. But "The Truth" proved to be a liar as he turned the ball over with the Bobcats double teaming him. Ray Felton gave the ball to Stephen Jackson who took a quick, risky and usually dumb shot with his foot on the three point line and Ray Allen all over him. But he hit it. "He just can't guard me", Jackson yelled after his lucky shot. Things got even worse for Bostons as Ray Allen stepped out of bounds with the tough Charlotte defense all over him. Gerald Wallace, who had 15 points, 6 boards and 4 assists, hit two freethrows to make it a two possession game. The Cs countered with a heavily contested three by Allen who only hit the board. Ray Felton answered with a mid range shot to close out the game.
He had 14 points, 10 assists and a season-high 4 steals. Boris Diaw added 18 on 8-10 shooting and Flip Murray had a spectacular 21 points in 18 minutes.
For Boston, Allen had 17 points, Garnett, 24, 5 boards and a stellar 5 steals. Rajon Rondo scored 21 and had 10 assists and Paul Pierce added 20 points. But it wasn't enough, as the Cs' bench could not contribute. Boston falls to 10-10 after this game.

Celtics Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
A great game by KG was not enough for the Cs
Gerald Wallace set the tone for the Cats
Rajon Rondo gave Raymond Felton huges problems on D
Rondo finished with 21 points







SIMULATED GAME

Nets spoil Bobcats and grab home win, Wallace suffers injury

New Jersey, December 4th
After a very nice win against Boston, the Bobcats came up very very short against the rising Nets on the road. After the first quarter already the Bobcats were down by by 12 allowing the Nets to score 39 points. Devin Harris alone had 17 of these 39 points. The Bobcats never managed to come back and trailed all game long. The Nets outrebounded them 32-49 which was a key reason for their win. The Cats also had 16 turnovers and shot only 29-74 whilst the Nets hit 13 of their 23 three point attempts. Devin Harris had 24 points and 7 assists, Brook Lopez added 19 and 14 boards. For Charlotte, Stephen Jackson (28 points) and Flip Murray (18 points) where the only players in double figures. Struggling Gerald Wallace collapsed late in the 4th after going for a rebound and came down akwardly on his knee. X-rays were negative but he is supposed to be out for two weeks with a extended knee. Tough loss for the Bobcats at the beginning of December.

Nets Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore








SIMULATED GAME

Bobcats blow away Sixers, loose Felton

Charlotte, December 6th
As if it was not enough for the Bobcats to loose Gerald Wallace with a knee injury, Charlotte will now face another test with Raymond Felton out for at least one week. Felton fell to the floor after going to the basket and landed on his back. He twisted a nerve near his vortex and will be out for 1-2 weeks. This all happened with only 2 minutes played in the game. But the Bobcats did not fall into dolor after the incident. Stephen Jackson scored 9 points in the first and Tyson Chandler had 6 points and 4 rebounds. The Bobcats had a 5 point lead after the first.
In the 2nd, Philly came back into the game as Allen Iverson scored 10 of his team-high 28 points. The Sixers had a 8-0 run and were able to cut the deficit to three points at half.
After half the Bobcats turned things up and thanks to their role players stepping up they scored 36 points and outscored the Sixers by 15. Gerald Henderson was one of four guys scoring 7 points or more in the 3rd.
The Sixers were not able to come back and in garbage time Flip Murray scored 13 of his team-high 22 points. Murray is averaging 17 points over his last three games. Jackson added 20 and DJ Augustin 12 and 7 assists. Andre Igoudala had only 11 points on 3-13 shooting. Thad Young scored 18 off the bench and Elton Brand had 11 and 13 boards as the Sixers fall to 4-16.



Sixers Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore






Suns outscore Knicks in OT
Behind 21 points and a season-high 18 assists of from Steve Nash, the Suns were able to grabe the close overtime win against the Knicks. It was Nash's jumpshot with 7.1 seconds left which led Phoenix to the win in OT. Amare Stoudemire added 29 points and 14 rebounds.

Cavs stop Suns
Just after their win at the Garden, the Suns lost a nail biter against the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-104. LeBron James only played 32 minutes due to foul trouble but almost had a triple-double with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists. Shaquille O'Neal stepped up and scored 19 points along with 9 boards. After setting a season-high in assists, Steve Nash continued to dominate by almost recording a triple-double with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Still the Suns were not able to win in a clash of titans.

LeBron goes nuts, beats Bulls singlehandedly and scores season-high 54
LeBron James was just two points shy of his career-high 56 points in the Cavs home game against the Bulls. He scored 54 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and added 8 assists to make it almost a triple-double as the Cavs blew out the Bulls 91-132.

Jazz extend winning streak to 9
The Utah Jazz managed to increase their streak of won games to 9 after going 2-0 this week. They beat the Pacers at home 86-90 and grabbed a win on the road in Minnesota, beating the Wolves 91-86. Deron Williams is averaging 19.5 points and 11.2 assists per game over these 9 games. He only had 13 and 10 against Minnesota though, suffering a wrist injury which could handicap him for the next two weeks. He's cleared to play though.

Spurs get back, make it three in a row
The San Antonio Spurs have found their way out of their starting slump. After going 6-8 they managed to win all of their three games this week. After beating the Nuggets at home 91-97 they were able to make another statement by beating the Celtics 81-90. The first game of the week was a 103-110 home win against the struggling Sixers. Tim Duncan has averaged 19.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks over these three games. Richard Jefferson finally found his stroke and scored 20.6 points this week.

LeBron, Big Al take POTW honors
Cavalier's LeBron James and T-Wolves Al Jefferson were voted Player Of The Week. LeBron led the Cavs to a 2-0 record and scored a season-high 54 against the Bulls. Al Jefferson averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds and 3.25 blocks per game over four games this week, but the Wolves were only able to win one of these games, a 105-112 home win against the Hornets.

[Lamrock]

Nice job getting your first winning week. Celtics are really slumping. Still envious of your presentation. I have no way to top it.

[hova-]

Lamrock, thanks, man. I guess youre not envious of my injuries. I dunno what's up with the Cs. They just bop up and down.

Updated the first post of my Dynasty and added some records as well as giving links for a quicker find. Dunno if anybody needs that, but I always wanted to do that in a dynasty. Further I just did not know what to do. It's Sunday night, I dont want to learn and we have some nice -17°C outside.

[Lamrock]

Yeah, I use archives. Not sure if its of any use for the readers, but I use it a lot when making recaps that refer to past events in the dynasty.

[Oskar]

Just read it all and enjoyed it, A LOT. Great job so far, really nicely written. Good job getting better with the record.

[Martti.]

We had -24°C today. (Not where I live, here it's like -18)

Anyway, shame the two injuries. Murray played great when Felton was out, but think you don't have a worthy replacement for Wallace.

[hova-]

Oskar, thank you man. Glad you like it!

Martti., yeah, it will be one shit of a winter again. Youre completely right, Wallace can't be replaced. And I definitely noticed that on the game without him.

[hova-]

After a very nice week with the lone loss at New Jersey I was finally feeling more comfortable in my situation. I was once again sitting in my office sipping coffee. MJ had already called me in the morning telling me that he was "very satisfied" and that he "won't be in town until next Sunday". I did not care actually. I was not even sure if he cared about the team. At 6-13 we were not yet a good team. And now these goddam injuries. Thinking about the injuries I opened my mail programme. It was time to take a look at my colleague's work of the week. The first mail was from Dr. Hibbert, leader of our medical staff. I did not yet know how bad Raymond did and opened the e-mail quickly.

Dear Mr. Hov,

I'm afraid I have to tell you that the charge Raymond Felton won't be able to participate in the team's training sessions as well as the three games ahead. I would also recommend Mr. Felton to not attend the flights to Texas for your upcoming road trip. He has a twisted nerve near his 3rd vortex and will need to immobilise his upper back in order to get back to 100% soon. Our physiotherapist Dr. Riviera will give special daily treatments to Mr. Felton. I cannot say when the player will be cleared to play but we all hope that he will be able to come back in a week.
An update for the status of Gerald Wallace: His knee is still swollen, but it has gotten better over the last three days. Right now all we can do is sitting him out. Mr. Wallace will be able to participate on your road trip to Texas but I strongly recommend to not let him play because another akward landing could tear is PCL which could require surgery.

Best greetings
Dr. Julius Hibbert

So far so bad, I thought. I knew that this one would hit us. Ray and Gerald were our number two and three options on offense. But it also would allow Flip to take even more shots. He had been phenomenal last week averaging about 17 points per game and I did not doubt that he could repeat it. On the other hand I did not want him to start. Jax was at his best on SG. Flip could come off the bench moving Jax to SF, but not for the whole game. On PG, there was DJ. He did not play very well so far shooting badly from the field. But I had trust in this kid. We had not other PG anyway with Acie Law being in the D-league right now. The projected lineup would be: Augustin - Jackson - Henderson - Diaw - Chandler ---- Murray - Diop - Mohammed - Graham - and .... Brown! I decided to give my rookie Derrick Brown some minutes. I knew he hated his situation right now. He played in like 3 games. I knew he had potential, but he was just stuck behind the others so far.

The next e-mail I checked was from Randy Brown with the subject : "D-league report". I opened it eager to see what he got for me.

Ay yo, what up Chris?
I got myself to Maine and Springfield last week to have a look at our D-league players Acie Law and Alexis Ajinca. I've attached two pics and a vid above if you are interested. Don't bother the bad quality, I took them with my cell phone cam. Acie Law has played in both games, while Alexis Ajinca was in our training facilities during the first game. Doug Collins is still not very pleased with his improvement though.

phpBB [video]

So here is what I saw in these two games. The Maine Red Claws won both games. Acie Law had 14 point and 4 assists in the first game and 16 points and 3 assists in the second. He is definitely willed to drive to the basket although his shot is not bad either. With his small stature, he still gets blocked too often. Check the clip above. His passing is decent and I like his ball handling, too.
The big minus is his defense. Acie picks up way too many fouls, often early in the game. He is not quick enough to guard smaller guys and not strong enough for the bigger ones. I'm not really impressed and we should leave him on the Red Claws for December.

Alexis Ajinca only played in one game and he has still lot of work to do. I could not really find a great part in his game. But that is also because he seems to be very cramped. It looks like he does not feel comfortable as everyone is expecting big things from him in D-league. So my impressions are a bit worse than he should usually be. He is an average defender, rebounder and athlete. That's not bad for a 7 footer though. On the offensive end, I don't see anything right now. His hook shot is off very often, he is no threat from mid range, and he has problems in traffic. He's a good dunker, but with his lack of strenght he does not get the chance to dunk very often. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds along with a block, but his shooting was very poor.

A guy who stepped up big for the Red Claws in both games is Walter Sharpe. He has been on the Pistons last year and has no club this year. His post up game was great and he averaged about 15 and 10 in both games.
That’s my D-league report.

Have a good night
Randy

The last E-mail was from Ron Harper. He had sent me the scouting report of Cole Aldrich two days ago but I had not time to read it so far. It was 11 p.m. but I wanted to get the work done. I was definitely interested what he got for me. I took another cup of coffee and opened it.

Yo Chris, here's my scouting report about one of the best college big men in the country right now, it's Cole Aldrich. He's a 6-11 center weighing 245 pounds. Born in 1988 he is in his junior season at Kansas. His major is communication studies. He seems to be an intelligent young man. He's the main guy on the Jayhawks right now averaging 11 points, 10 boards and 3.5 blocks per game in 26 minutes. He's shooting .540% from the field and .688% from the charity stripe. Now let me tell you what I like and don't like about the young fella:

Strenghts:
- nice fundamental skills
- superb footwork and improved post game
- good agility for an almost 7 footer
- has a solid face up game with a decent jump shot
- has established himself as a defensive presence, especially with his shot blocking
- shows some nice soft hands, can catch and pass very well
- consistent as you love it, he won't disappoint you

Weaknesses:
- definitely not a freakish athlete, but solid
- very quiet guy, no leader at all
- can hit the mid range J, but he could look to extend his range
- has problems defending quicker players

So here's my summary. This guy seems to be the top big man of next year's draft. He has everything you want on the C and can also play minutes at PF. Still, I am not sure if he will be able to translate his game to the NBA hardwood, he must get a bit more nastier downlow in my opinion. He will definitely be a top 10 pick, top 5 if the Jayhawks do well this year. But don't expect him to be a leader or go-to-guy.
All in all I like him very much, but he could be a bit of a showbag.
Keep on winning, Chris.
Harper

I turned off my light thinking about what the upcoming week would bring to us. My youngsters would need to step up. We could also fail miserably. As I locked the door I felt like this could be a really challenging December ...

[Cartar]

Dear Mr. Hov,

I'm afraid I have to tell you that the charge Raymond Felton won't be able to participate in the team's training sessions as well as the three games ahead. I would also recommend Mr. Felton to not attend the flights to Texas for your upcoming road trip. He has a twisted nerve near his 3rd vortex and will need to immobilise his upper back in order to get back to 100% soon. Our physiotherapist Dr. Riviera will give special daily treatments to Mr. Felton. I cannot say when the player will be cleared to play but we all hope that he will be able to come back in a week.
An update for the status of Gerald Wallace: His knee is still swollen, but it has gotten better over the last three days. Right now all we can do is sitting him out. Mr. Wallace will be able to participate on your road trip to Texas but I strongly recommend to not let him play because another akward landing could tear is PCL which could require surgery.

Best greetings
Dr. Julius Hibbert

You picked this guy over this as your team doctor? Wrong choice, you'll regret it later.

[Martti.]

Wallace's situation looks promising, so I guess Hibbert can giggle away. Ehahahaa..

[hova-]

Cartar, haha. If you read the text closely you had seen Riviera's role on my medical stuff

Martti., It's not really promising. I dunno if a already injured player gets injured more quickly again, but I won't play him anyway since he is a 57 (-21) which is worse than his rookie backups.


No words on Cole Aldrich anyone. Usually the scouting reports are initiating little debates about whom to draft etc. which I like. I also thought some of you would go with "Let Acie play!" ^^

[Fresh8]

I love your updates.

[The X]

I love your updates.

Agreed. Due to time constraints I usually skip straight past game recaps (which I've never been a fan of in any Dynasty/Association so nothing personal) & to the articles/features/diaries & they are always a good read & update me on what I miss during the recaps.

Any certain position that you are looking to fill in draft? I know that I'm looking to draft a PF for the Bucks, as that is glaring need for me.

[hova-]

A PF would be the right choice for me, too. But I am a fan of taking the "best player available", so if I had the 1st pick, it would be a tough choice which might lead to Wall or maybe Warren.
I will need to scout more guys, maybe I find someone who fits in at PF perfectly. I am not too much into the College guys, so I have to get to know more about them.

[hova-]

After winning three in a row, TP and TD are looking to stay undefeated next week

Week 7 (6th of December-11th of December)

The Charlotte Bobcats will face a difficult situation as it was definitely the wrong time to have any injuries (is there a right time?) with three Western Conference powerhouses on their schedule. The week starts off on Tuesday when the Denver Nuggets come to town. After that the Bobcats will head to Texas for a two game road trip meeeting the Spurs on Friday and the Mavs on Sunday. The Bobcats have yet to win a game against the Mavericks in their franchise history.

The Denver Nuggets (14-6) will visit Charlotte on Tuesday. They lost their last game against the Spurs @San Antonio 91-97. Carmelo Anthony had 38 points but it was not enough as the Spurs played pesky defence. Melo is leading a very good Nuggets team in scoring with 29.4 points and is also grabbing a remarkable 7.4 rebounds per game. His shooting is at a career-high .503% from the field. But what would the Nuggets be without Chauncey Billups? The veteran point guard and Finals MVP is averaging 20.1 points and 10.5 assists. His three point shooting has been the key to many Nuggets game as he is shooting a stellar .472% from downtown. JR "Earl" Smith" has found his way into the starting lineup contributing consistently for the first time in his career. The 24 year old is averaging 16.7 points on .403% from beyond the arc. You also should not forget about Nené. His numbers are down from last year with Billups scoring more, but he is still among the top Cs in the league with 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds as well as 1.7 blocks per game. The Nuggets have won 8 of their last ten with the only losses to the above mentioned Spurs and the New York Knicks @ the Garden.

The San Antonio Spurs (9-8) will host the Bobcats on Friday. Riding on a three game winning streak the Spurs are back above .500% and slowly climbing the standings. Tony Parker has established himself as the go-to-scorer as he is averaging 22.2 points per game. His 8.1 assists are a career-high so far though and he is still very efficient at .490% from the field. But the MVP is once again Tim Duncan. TD is averaging 21.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. After some problems at the beginning of the season he has stepped up and averaged 19.3 points and 11.3 rebounds over the last three wins.
Manu Ginobili is starting this season and putting up huge numbers with 17.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a league best 3.9 steals per game. Each of these three guys should be in All-Star consideration if the Spurs manage to get higher in the standings.

The Dallas Mavericks (10-11) will be the Bobcats' last opponent before heading back home. So far in this season, the Mavs have been struggling to find any consistency. The split their last 10 games, going 5-5. The biggest problems occured on defence, where they just cannot find their rotation giving up 102.3 points per game. On offense, their stacked roster is blessing and curse at the same time. Franchise player Dirk Nowitzki, who was cleared to play despite some muscular problems, is only averaging 21.8 points per game. The Mavs have proven to be better when he scores many points, still everyone wants to get involved on offense resulting in Josh Howard averaging 13.9 points off the bench and Jason Terry, who starts this season, adding 18.9 points. Shawn Marion, the starter at the three averages 8.4 points and 7.0 boards and Jason Kidd alos scored 6.2 points and is trying to get everyone involved with 9.9 dimes. Rookie surprise Rodrigues Beaubois adds 7.1 points off the bench. With everyone demanding a piece of the cake, it seems like the taste has been untended. Still, the potential is there. And don't forget: The Bobcats have not yet won a game against the Mavs since their founding in 04-05.

Note: Raymond Felton will not play this week. According to doctors, he needs at least one week to shake off back problems.
Gerald Wallace has also not been cleared to play. He will join the Bobcats on their Texas trip, but is highly unlikely to face playing time.

[kibaxx7]

Missed a couple of updates here too... good luck in this week man, strange to see the Celts at .500

[cavs4872]

This looks like an extremely tough week for you. Even though their records aren't too great, the Spurs and Mavs should still be a tough challenge. Good luck.

[Lamrock]

Two road games against average teams and a home game against a good one. Inconvenient. I think you manage to steal a game from one of the Texas teams but lose the other two.

[hova-]

ONLY ONE HALF PLAYED

Melo, Chauncey show no mercy, power Denver past Charlotte

Charlotte, December 8th

Everybody on the Bobcats knew that it would be hard without two starters, Ray Felton and Gerald Wallace. But that hard? The Bobcats had almost no chance against the star power from the Rocky Mountains and looked like they had already given up at half being down by 13. After halftime the Nuggets outscored them by 16 and the game was all over. It could not have started worse than Flip Murray falling on his left wrist after drawing a charge from all-offense Carmelo Anthony. Murray had to sit out for two quarters with a sprained wrist. The guard, averaging 17 points of the last three games was set to be available for game action but will be bothered by his wrist for at least 3 weeks. The Bobcats tried everything to stay in the game. Stephen Jackson played some nice defense against Melo in the first but everybody could see how this wore him down. Melo scored 9 of his 32 points in the second quarter where the Nuggets ran away. Both teams had many TO's but the Nuggets were able to profit from these turnovers as they played fastbreak basketball par excellence. Chauncey Billups had 25 points and 13 assists shooting 3-7 from downtown. Chris Andersen had a stellar 13 rebounds in only 18 minutes and also showed a nice touch from midrange. "You know, when everybody's hot, I just tried to keep up with them. That's not my shot, but the game was over anyway ...", the Birdman said after the game.
For the Bobcats, DJ Augustin had an awful night in his first start of the season, shooting 2-13 from the field and 1-8 from beyond the arc. He had 5 points and 5 assists. Despite his injury, Flip Murray scored 14 points. Stephen Jackson was the team-high man with 20 points but could not make the difference in this game.
Charlotte had no player under 10 minutes. Rookie Derrick Brown stepped up in garbage time and scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting. Rookie colleague Ty Lawson had 12 points in 25 minutes of action. The Bobcats had 9 steals and 9 blocks but also 14 turnovers. They shot a horrible 3-20 from downtown.

Nuggets Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
Team Stats







ONLY ONE QUARTER PLAYED

Spurs come up big in the first, rip Bobcats

San Antonio, December 11th
The struggle of the Bobcats continues. Charlotte only managed to score a season-low 10 points in the first quarter which had the game already done after the first, when the Spurs lead by 20. Richard Jefferson had 9 points in the first and Tony Parker added 7 of his 22. The Bobcats were never able to come back, also because they found no way to contain Tim Duncan inside. Mr. Fundamental had 24 points and 10 rebounds. After their surprising loss to the Kings the day before, the Spurs showed their skills impressively against the short-handed Bobcats. Flip Murray's 14 points were a team-high as the others struggled big time, especially Stephen Jackson who only had 7 points on 3-15 shooting. DJ Augustin showed that he is not Raymond Felton as he only scored 7 points and added 3 assists. The Bobcats shot only .390% from the field and played as horribly as they might have played in their first season of the franchise. They were outrebound 31-46 and allowed the Spurs to shoot .500% from the field. Mr. Consistent Tyson Chandler had 9 points and 8 rebounds and Boris Diaw added 11 and 8 in the embarrassing loss.
s.
Spurs Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
Team Stats







Jason Kidd had problems finding his shot, but was stellar on assisting

Augustin's big 4th not enough, Mavs beat Bobcats

Dallas, December 12th
This time he fought. This time he did not want them to criticize his game again. DJ Augustin did not want to be responsible for another embarrassing loss. And although the Bobcats stay without a win against the Mavericks in their franchise history, Augustin showed why he was drafted as the 9th pick two years ago. The New Orleans native, who went to Texas after hurricane Catrina, scored 18 of his 27 points in the 4th quarter causing trouble to the old legs of Jason Kidd and almost lifting his Bobcats to a win to end their trip to Texas. The reasons why it did not happen? The Mavs proved to be cold as ice in the late 4th as they hit big shots on consecutive possessions to close out the game. Stephen Jackson, who played a season-high 44 minutes in this one, scored 12 points in the first to keep the Bobcats in the game. "We needed his spark, because against the Spurs we did not have anybody who took over in the first and lost that game early", Coach Hov praised his go-to-guy later.
Down by 6 the Cats came into the 2nd quarter on a 12-4 run. The Mavs, especially Jason Terry shot very poorly in the 2nd. Jackson added another 10 but thanks to Dirk Nowitzki, who played through a muscle injury, the Mavs had a 3 point lead at half. The game went back and forth in the 3rd when the Mavs went on a 9-0 run to make it a 9 point lead. And in the fourth, well, Augustin stepped up big. He hit a deep three and made two lay-ups in a row, one with the foul from Jason Kidd, who had only 4 points but 10 assists and 7 rebounds. Down by 4 with 2:01 to go the Mavs started hitting every shot. Jason Terry from mid-range, Dirk Nowitzki with Boris Diaw all over him, Josh Howard from mid-range again. Despite the great play by Augustin, the Mavs kept their 6 points lead and grabbed a home win.
The Bobcats go to 0-3 for the week. Stephen Jackson had 26 points and Tyson Chandler had a zero everywhere in the stat sheet, but on rebounds as he grabbed 16 boards. Flip Murray, bothered by his injury had only 4 points and Mohammed added 8 and 4.
For the Mavs, Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points in only 32 minutes because of his injury. Howard and Terry added 18 apiece and Dampier had 12 and 13 rebounds.
The Mavs had 33 points off the bench and 28 assists. Charlotte outrebounded them 50-42. Still they fall to 6-16 in the season.

Mavs Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
Team Stats





Suns loose four in a row
The streaking Phoenix Suns have lost four in a row lately. The Los Angeles Lakers beat them 75-108 at Staples Center thanks to Kobe Bryant scoring 38 point and Andre Bynum having a monster statline: 20/16 and 7 blocks. The Suns also lost against the Magic 127-121 in their first loss at home. Dwight Howard had 29 points and 16 rebounds. After that game they added their 4th loss against the Mavericks 99-110. Dirk Nowitzki had 28 points and 3 rebounds and Jason Kidd added 11 points and 13 assists. The Suns have fallen to 7-9 on the road compared to their 7-1 at home.

Jazz's 9 game winning streak ended by Lakers, loose two in a row
Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and dished out 5 assists and Pau Gasol had a monster game with 25 and 13 to end the Jazz's 9 game winning streak with a 106-115. The Jazz also lost the next game at home hosting the Magic as they got blown out by Howard (25/16/5) and co., 133-98. The Magic had four player with 20+ points.

Durant, Howard take POTW honors
The Magic's Dwight Howard and the Thunder's Kevin Durant are player of the week. Howard lifted his Magic to 3-0 this week with some big wins @Utah and @Phoenix. He had 30.0 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks over these three wins.
Kevin Durant only needed one good game as he shot the lights out against Memphis with 43 points and also added 12 bords. The Thunder are on a 6 game winning streak and went 2-0 this week whit Durant averaging 30 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals over these two games.

[hova-]

Thierry., Yeah, actually I do not why they struggle. Their team and individual stats are not that bad at all. I had no luck I guess ^^ thx anyway.


XxHyperDunk24, the Spurs are just tough to play. Everybody who gets open has the ability to knock down shots. I hated to play against them and surrendered after 1 quarter.

Lamrock, No chance. I really miss Wallace and Felton. Actually now, with Felton out, I see what I like about him. He is very very quick and also strong. Augustin is too skinny to drive and I had a tough time using screens with him against the other PGs. I just gave up against the Nuggets and Spurs because I missed them so much. I did not expect that.