The Charlotte Bobcats have arrived. They are relevant both in the NBA and in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are finally, dare I say it, Players.
With a gutty, catlike 82-78 win over the visiting Miami Heat tonight, the Bobcats are seriously in the Playoff race for first time in the franchise's nearly six year history.
With 20 games remaining in the regular season, Charlotte's 31-31 record is good enough for 7th place in the NBA's Eastern Conference, meaning that if postseason play started tomorrow, Larry Brown's team would be booking a flight to Orlando and the Bobcats would be Playoff participants for the first time ever.
More than 18,000 fans poured into Time Warner Cable Arena tonight for the third straight game, but this time they didn't come to see Kobe Bryant and the Lakers or hometown hero and current Golden State Warrior Steph Curry, as they did on consecutive Friday and Saturday nights last weekend.
Okay, so perhaps a few tickets were sold because Michael "Heir" Jordan goes to the games now and has become a familiar face at the far end of the Bobcats bench in recent weeks since becoming the team's presumptive majority owner, but still, tonight was different.
Tonight was a Tuesday night in Charlotte, a night in which the Bobcats typically play host to much smaller crowds. Tonight, fans showed up en masse to support their Charlotte Bobcats.
Charlotte trailed most of the game after the Heat got off to a quick start and held a 30-20 lead after the first quarter, but the Bobcats out hustled, out scrapped and out rebounded the Heat to win each of the last 3 periods.
In fact, the NBA's 2nd best scoring defense held Miami to under 20 points in each remaining period, including a game low 12 points in the decisive fourth quarter, and a total of just 30 second half points.
The Bobcats' Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace fought especially hard defensively to contain the Heat's Dwayne Wade in the second half and Charlotte finally took and protected its first lead since early in the first quarter on a Raymond Felton three pointer late in the final period.
Though Felton later missed the first of two free throw attempts that could have secured victory in the game's waning moments, he was the Bobcats' offensive star tonight with 15 points and 11 assists.
Fortunately, teammate Boris Diaw bailed out his point guard's charity stripe gaff with a pair of made free throws just seconds later to give Charlotte its victorious 4-point margin.
Perhaps more importantly, though, the Charlotte Bobcats reminded players, fans and teams around the nation and the Tarheel state that this is basketball country, even at the professional level.
HOOKS, UPPERCUTS AND BODY BLOWS:
*The energy at TWC Arena was transparent through the television and I could feel the energy from the 18,000-plus in attendance shouting "D-Fence! D-Fence!" throughout the last 7 or 8 minutes of the 4th quarter as if this were a pivotal playoff game, or at least a meaningful regular season contest, which it was.
**I've been to 5 Bobcats games this season, including Steph Curry's return to the QC last weekend, and the atmosphere has been great all season, but with the playoffs on the line, it's getting better each night.
***The Lakers/Warriors/Heat trio of games may have done for professional basketball in Charlotte what the Winter Olympics did for hockey in the US a couple of weeks ago and what the World Cup does every four years. Hopefully the Bobcats can build on their momentum to solidify and further expand their fan base.
****Charlotte may have recent homecourt victories over Kobe's L.A. Lakers and LeBron's Cleveland Cavaliers, but tonight's come from behind win over the visiting Heat and the league's third superstar, D-Wade, stands alone as its best win of the season. Tonight's performance was special because it was such a hard fought and pivotal contest for both teams vying for postseason berths, and the Charlotte Bobcats won.
*****Good riddance George Shinn, get the hell outta the way Bob Johnson and get real nice and comfortable at the end of the Bobcats bench, Mike!
No comments:
Post a Comment