Print
RSS 
Sign up for E-news
|
QUARTER-BY-QUARTER ANALYSIS
First quarter: The Bobcats, playing at home for the fifth time in six games, were trying to cool the league’s hottest team. Chicago came in with a six-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the NBA. The matchup also reunited former college teammates Emeka Okafor of Charlotte and Ben Gordon of Chicago and put a lot of focus on the NBA Rookie of the Year race – Okafor is widely regarded as the favorite and Gordon is one of the top three contenders. Okafor got off to a fast start, scoring the Bobcats’ first seven points. Primoz Brezec (eight first-quarter points) and Gerald Wallace (six) later got in on it and helped push Charlotte in front by eight on two occasions. The Bulls tied it with an 8-0 run, keyed by Gordon’s back-to-back three-pointers. Jason Hart’s two free throws with 0:00.2 left gave the Bobcats a 25-23 end-of-period lead. Second quarter: Guard Keith Bogans hit a wing jumper, a steal and a fast break layup to give Charlotte a four-point lead in the opening minutes. The Bobcats were unable to extend it, however, and Othello Harrington’s consistent scoring in the low post helped the Bulls wipe out the deficit and lock in on a back-and-forth scoring struggle through the rest of the quarter. Charlotte’s starting frontcourt of Brezec, Okafor and Wallace outscored the Bulls’ starting three 27-18 in the half. The Bobcats capitalized on a dozen Chicago turnovers, scoring 17 points off the errors. The halftime score: Charlotte 47, Chicago 47. Third quarter: The teams battled on relatively even terms with no more than four points separating them through the opening five minutes. The Bulls began struggling for points late in that span, however, the Charlotte took advantage. The run began with Chicago leading by four, 56-52, with 8:21 to play. The Bobcats reeled off 13 unanswered points to go in front by nine, 65-56, on a Brezec fast break layup with 4:58 left. The Bulls finally got back on track offensively, getting successive three-pointers from Gordon and eventually closing to within two. Charlotte stretched it back to six, 75-69, by the end of the quarter. Brezec, Okafor and Wallace had combined for 41 points and 19 rebounds by that stage. Charlotte outshot the Bulls 42.1 percent to 31.8 percent. Fourth quarter: The quarter belonged to Bulls guards Ben Gordon and Jannero Pargo. Pargo, a reserve, brought a 4.5 scoring average into the game but that didn’t stop him from having a major impact. After scoring 10 on 4-of-7 shooting through three quarters, Pargo followed with some timely bombs in the fourth. He drilled two three-pointers in a span of 41 seconds to put the Bulls on top by two with 6:30 remaining. Each team then lost a key player with 5:22 to play when Charlotte’s Brevin Knight and Chicago’s Tyson Chandler were tagged with double technicals after a brief shoving match and ejected. Then Gordon took over in a huge way. Starting with a steal with 4:23 remaining and the score tied at 86-86, he drilled the Bobcats with a near-complete performance. His totals in the last 4:20: 13 points, 4-of-5 field goals, 3-of-4 free throws and one rebound. The Bobcats matched him offensively for a long period and were only down one, 98-97, with 40.6 seconds left. But Gordon then hit a three and a free throw in those final seconds, giving the Bulls a five-point cushion with only 0:03.2 to play. Overall he scored 22 in the closing 12 minutes, shooting 8-of-12 from the field (including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc) and 3-of-4 from the line and adding three assists, two steals and three rebounds. The final: Chicago 102, Charlotte 99.
GM & HEAD COACH BERNIE BICKERSTAFF SAYS... (on defending when a player gets hot like that) There were several times that we shouldn’t have left him to go help out somebody else. You don’t leave Ben Gordon in those situations. This isn’t anything new – that’s what he’s been doing all year in the fourth quarter. At winning time he just took over the basketball game. And what his teammates understood was, get him the ball. (on Emeka Okafor’s game) I don’t think that Emeka can do what Ben does with the ball. Ben has the advantage (as a guard) that he can put the ball on the floor. It’s a whole different basketball game when you talk about what Emeka does and how Ben Gordon plays. But you can see why they were national champs (at Connecticut) because of the two of them. (on how the game changed when Brevin Knight and Tyson Chandler were ejected for a fourth-quarter shoving match) Simply because of what Gordon was going, it really didn’t matter. Whatever we did he was making shots…What happens is, the focus was lost on who the shooters are and you can’t help. The bigs have to stay home. Our guys played well but some of the shots he made…I have no regrets on anybody in that (Bobcats) locker room. I haven’t seen (the tape of the Knight-Chandler incident) yet but I don’t think there were any punches thrown. I think they won that battle, when Chandler goes and Brevin goes.
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM
GERALD WALLACE (on talking at halftime about defending Gordon) He played five minutes in the first half so how can we talk about it? He played five minutes and hit two threes and sat down and didn’t even play in the second quarter. We can’t talk about him. His job is to come in during the fourth quarter and carry the team. (on his performance) Mainly I was picking my spots and just trying to get into a rhythm. It’s all good but it’s not worth it. I’d give it all up to get a win.
EMEKA OKAFOR (on defending Gordon) When he’s like that, he’s like that. He’s already a talented player and when he gets in the zone, he’s in the zone. You can’t really do anything about it. (on the Rookie of the Year race) You don’t win it in one game. This was just one game and I’ll leave it at that.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
