Say this for the Charlotte Bobcats, they know how to get it done against the best in the NBA. It’s the rest of the league they often find themselves struggling with. Prior to last night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Bobcats had won three of five; with those three being over the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics, the currently fourth seeded Atlanta Hawks and the defending champion LA Lakers.
Actually, they gave the Lake Show it’s worst loss of the year, 109-89.
But in Chicago, they just couldn’t keep it going against the team with the third best record in the East; a team they had beaten twice already.
By Paul M. Banks
“I think when we play against good teams everybody gets up. It’s easy to get up or a game like that. Good teams have that same energy for under .500 teams and we have to get there. We tend to play to the level of the team we’re playing. Every time we play Chicago we’re up for it. They have an MVP candidate in Derrick Rose. We have to come with the same attitude when we’re playing under .500 teams,” Jackson said.
The loss dropped Charlotte to 4-13 in the second games of back to back contests, and 15-13 under Paul Silas. Which is still a marked improvement over the 9-19 record they posted with Larry Brown leading the way.
“Charlotte is a good team. They really played solid team defense. They had a terrific game against the Lakers last night. We probably benefited from them playing last night. But our guys hung tough,” said Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau.
The Bobcats could have gotten an emotional lift from the presence of their majority owner and Chair of Basketball Operations Michael Jordan. “His Airness” himself being in attendance at the United Center; a little win one for the Gipper type moment?
There was a huge ovation for Michael Jordan when he was shown on screen; accompanied by Scottie Pippen his former running mate. Bulls forward Luol Deng spoke about the warm reception MJ received.
“I think for all he did for this organization, this city, all the joy that he brought here, I think there should even be more. I think they should stop the game, Mike has inspired a lot of people, and it’s not going to happen often, so you should embrace that,” Deng said.
The win made Chicago now 32-1 in games where they hold their opponents to 95 points or less. Charlotte takes on the Toronto Raptors next, which sounds like an easy win on paper. But of course, there’s nothing certain about the Bobcats when they play weaker teams.
“I thought we tried to give a good effort but just didn’t rebound at all. I think they had 14 second chances by halftime. After last night, we just didn’t have it. Also, this team was waiting for us. They had the resolve to beat us. It wasn’t anyone thing they did. I thought if we could have rebounded the basketball we would have been in it. They had eight offensive rebounds in the first half and we had none,” said Silas.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He doesn’t have a real nickname, but he is also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
He does a weekly radio segment on Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank