Knicks Barely Get Past Bobcats, 100-98
This was a huge factor in tonight's game...too many turnovers...
This was a must see game. Seriously, this was the type of game that you really needed to see. You had the New Your Knicks, who are at the top of the Eastern Conference versus the Bobcats who, after last season’s mess, has shown a great deal of promise. Would this be the Bobcats/Knicks game that gave the Bobcats their 23rd loss of last season, or would it be something else? Let me be the first to say it was something else. It was a whole lot of something special. Truth be told, the Bobcats should have won this game. Reality is that too many turnovers in the 4th (6) cost them this game. Up side is that you got to see a Bobcats team that was at 90% take a top team in the East to task, and almost come away with a victory. Follow me past the jump, won’t you?
I watched this game from the Michael Buffer intros to the JR Smith shuffle after his game winning shot. I hate the Bobcats lost their 5th straight game, but I just have to say that we have nothing to hang our heads about. Stupid mistakes at the end of the game lost it for us. Call it youth, inexperience, mental lapse, or brain fart…turnovers lose ball games and we did that very thing. 12 turnovers in this game where the Knicks turned almost every one into points; you can’t win games that way. A 5-second call and a travel, both by Ben Gordon was a major factor in this one. When the final seconds remained on the clock, and Carmelo Anthony was in the locker room having a lacerated middle finger taken care of, I just knew Smith was getting the ball. No matter what position he’s in, he can hit a circus shot, a contested shot, a prayer of a shot…you get my drift. JR Smith will almost always hit that big shot to put a nail in your coffin. He threw up a prayer of a shot with .5 on the shot clock in the 1st half and it went in so he was my pick to get that last shot. Lo and behold, as the clock wound down, he took the last shot of the game, over Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who played perfect defense on the shot. In it goes as the buzzer sounds. I didn’t care too much for the “Smith Shuffle” on our home floor, and I hope none of our players did either. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for the folks in the stands because the cheers for that game winner were louder than any cheer was for our Bobcats tonight. I really hate that we can’t have a home crowd that cheers on our home team every single game. I guess we don’t get any of that until we start making annual playoffs visits and get a ring or few…but I digress
Bobcats basketball is fun to watch again. Wins are more fun to watch than losses, but I’m not as downtrodden today as I was on Monday. Monday was just plain bad. Tonight, Henderson looks to be returning to form quite well, the rookies keep getting better, and the team as a whole plays better and better. We might have a playoff team on our hands. My fear is that a playoff team may screw up the rebuild in Charlotte, but perhaps with some Rich Cho magic, we can still wind up with a sweet draft pick and/or a player that will just have us steps away from a playoff run. Only time will tell on that one.
Trade Street Post’s Game-Breaker award goes to Kemba Walker with his 25 points, 11 assists and only 1 turnover. 11 assists is a game high for him on the season. I think he may have this point guard in the NBA thing figured out. Keep it up my man!
Let me share some stats for the night:
Walker = 25pts / 11 assists / 2 rebs / 2 steals
Henderson = 18pts / 6 rebs / 1 block
Gordon = 17pts / 3 rebs / 2 assists / 1 steal
Kidd-Gilchrist = 12pts / 3 rebs / 2 assists / 1 block
Biyombo = 2pts / 12 rebs / 1 assist / 1 block
A special congratulations goes to Michael Kidd Gilchrist for winning Rookie of the Month for November. I’m telling you that this guy is going to be in the hunt for rookie of the year. Watch for it. He’s such a hard worker and his work doesn’t always how up in the box score, so I hope he gets rewarded for that.
