The Basketball Gods Must Be Crazy
Listed in:You may know I'm a Charlotte Bobcats season ticket holder. This means that even though I'm nominally a Golden State fan, having deferred to geography my entire life, I'm now actually following an NBA team fairly closely, and the Bobcats are growing on me. Emeka Okafor is unquestionably their best player, but beyond him they've got:
Gerald Wallace, a guy who's carried the team at times
Jason Richardson, who can no longer take it to the rack at will but has compensated by improving his jump shooting game
Raymond Felton, who has surprised everyone I know who's seen him in person this year
Primoz Brezec, Jeff McInnis, Matt Carroll, Ryan Hollins, Walter Herrman, Jamario Davidson, and Jared Dudley as role players.
That means they've got a franchise big man, and three guys who are on the border between Great Supporting Player and Go To Guy. As for the role players, put it this way: The first six guys are what they are, but Dudley has the talent to be a starter. The guy was the ACC player of the year last year, but, of course, as with my favorite example of the phenomenon, Luke Walton, Dudley was considered too small to play power forward, and not enough of a scorer to play small forward. He was overlooked even though he's a solid defender, a high energy guy, and he brings a lot of skill to the table even though, physically, he can't match a lot of other guys in the league. What I mean by that is that, among the young players I've seen in person and on TV the past couple years, he's a better ballhandler than most power forwards, a better passer than most forwards, a better shooter than most power forwards, a better post player than most small forwards... It goes on. He won't outrun or outjump too many guys, but there's a starting spot for guys like him, on good teams, and I've got to give the Bobcats credit both for drafting him in the first round and giving him every opportunity to play and succeed.
Which brings me to last night's game against the Celtics. I bought an Okafor jersey at the team shop, but when I found out Wallace was out for the game, I was prepared for a blowout. Instead, Dudley got the start at the three, Felton and Richardson picked up for Wallace's scoring, and they didn't seem to miss a beat.
Dudley ran a little point forward on offense, took the ball at the elbow and threatened to shoot or pass to a cutting teammate in the half court, and on defense was far from an embarrassment against Paul Pierce. Let's just sum up by saying that next season, I might have to invest in another jersey, because he's quickly becoming my favorite player on the team.
The game last night was beautiful until the end. The teams looked evenly matched, as Felton sliced and diced through Rajon Rondo and Eddie House, and Pierce and Allen were exposed on defense by Richardson. Garnett, for some reason, stayed outside for the most part and faced up his defenders. When it was Okafor, I felt like Charlotte had a chance to force a miss and get the rebound. When Brezec tried to cover the best player on the floor, it seemed like a pointless exercise, as he just wasn't quick enough to stay out on Garnett and get in his face on jump shots, nor was he quick enough to run the floor with him, or stay with him outside and guard cuts to the basket.
As for the ending, I have two points. First, why the Bobcats didn't toss the ball toward the opposite end of the court is beyond me. Just send a taller guy that way, toss it high, set up a jump ball in their lane, and force them to bring it all the way back through the defense in 4.7 seconds after a tip. And that's if they get the ball off the toss in the first place.
Second, my buddy Brent and I agreed, before the Celtics final possession, that the last thing we wanted was to see the Celtics shoot a three, because we both had a feeling any three they took would go in. Everyone in the arena was holding his or her breath when Pierce attempted his shot with seven seconds or so, and the place exploded when the Bobcats got the rebound. The Celtics fouled, and everyone thought the game was done, Bobcats win. Except that they had to inbound the ball because the C's hadn't been getting called for fouls all game, and they weren't in the penalty yet. When we realized that, the tension instantly built again. As Richardson searched for a lane to inbound, people started screaming. When the ball was tipped, several thousand people all shouted, "No!" And when Allen's shot splashed home, fifteen thousand people moaned, another couple thousand dropped into their chairs, stunned into silence, and another couple thousand shrieked for joy. I was in the upper deck, at the end where the shot went down, and all I remember of that moment was that I'd focussed on some guy in the third row, behind the Bobcats bench, and he was throwing his jacket to the ground and slamming his other hand against the chair in front of him.
If basketball is a game where the ebb and flow of emotion can both help and hurt a team, this is the kind of loss that can kill the next few weeks for the Bobcats. A win would have announced to the league that Charlotte can't be overlooked. They would've gotten highlights on SportsCenter for the next few games instead of being relegated to "score only" status. Now, they're just another team that came close to beating a top team, but couldn't get the job done.
Bah. Let the karma build. The Bobcats are a playoff-caliber team. Here's hoping they acquire one more piece and take their shot.
