Print
RSS 
Sign up for E-news
|
QUARTER-BY-QUARTER ANALYSIS
First quarter: Charlotte jumped out to an early 8-2 lead behind the strong play of Primoz Brezec, who scored eight first-quarter points. Cleveland settled in after the initial Bobcats run and took its first lead of the night at 13-12 on a LeBron James steal and dunk at the 4:07 mark. The Bobcats bench played well through the closing minutes of the quarter as Keith Bogans and Jason Kapono combined for 11 of Charlotte's final 13 points in the period and the Bobcats held a 23-19 lead after one. Brevin Knight had six first-quarter assists for Charlotte. Second quarter: Charlotte led 25-22 less than two minutes into the second period when the Cavaliers went on a 13-5 run fueled by Eric Snow and Anderson Varejao to grab a five-point advantage. Cleveland held the lead for the majority of the quarter before Brevin Knight converted a three-point play with 1:50 remaining to give Charlotte a 42-40 lead. Those were the final points the Bobcats would score in the half however as the Cavaliers added two LeBron James free throws and a three-pointer at the buzzer by Snow to take a three-point lead into the break. Third quarter: The opening six minutes of the second half were a dogfight with Cleveland holding leads of between one and five points until the Bobcats finally broke through with back-to-back baskets by Emeka Okafor and Gerald Wallace to grab a 55-53 lead. The game was tied at 55-55, 57-57 and 59-59 before Charlotte went on an 8-0 run that included an alley-oop slam dunk by Wallace. The Bobcats opened the lead to 10 points at 71-61 on a Melvin Ely layup and then, after Cleveland scored three points to cut the margin to seven, extended their advantage back to 10 on Bogan's three-point basket at the buzzer. Fourth quarter: Charlotte's margin grew to a game-high 12 points at 78-66 after Bogans' jumper with 9:19 remaining. The Bobcats then went cold for the next 4:20 -- turning the ball over on their next possession and then missing five consecutive field goal attempts as the Cavaliers quickly cut the margin to five. Brezec slowed the comeback with back-to-back baskets and the Bobcats still held an 83-76 lead with 4:14 remaining. LeBron James then took over -- knocking down a three-pointer and hitting a driving layup to pull the Cavaliers within two. Charlotte held off the Cleveland charge momentarily with two jumpers by Knight, but the Cavs continued to pound the offensive glass and finally tied the game at 87-87 on Drew Gooden's layup with 33 seconds remaining. After a Bogans turnover and a missed jumper by Jeff McInnis, the Bobcats had a wide-open chance to secure their second road win of the season but Bogans missed a 12-foot jumper from the left wing at the buzzer. Overtime: The overtime period belonged to Drew Gooden. He opened the scoring with a jumper and scored seven of his overall 17 points in the extra frame. The Bobcats hung tough early in overtime, but Cleveland opened a four-point advantage on Gooden's layup with 1:31 remaining and Charlotte could never get closer than two the rest of the way. James registered 29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for Cleveland. Knight had 15 points and an NBA season-high 20 assists for the Bobcats.
GM & HEAD COACH BERNIE BICKERSTAFF SAYS... (on use of zone defense quite a bit) They (Cavaliers) got shots on us, but what we tried to do was stop the breakaways, the transition defense. I thought we did a much better job in that situation where they just didn’t get out in the open court. (on defending LeBron James) We tried to limit his touches. When he touches the ball, good things happen for his teammates. So, we basically tried to limit his touches. Again, all we can ask on the road is that you tempo the basketball game, you put yourself in a chance to win. We had a nice look, and we didn’t get it done. (on Emeka Okafor not getting a double-double against Cavaliers) I can’t say at this point that it’s all Cleveland, because I think Emeka is having a difficult time right now. Period. It probably started the last time we played Cleveland, so I don’t know if I can just assess the problem that he is having right now is all Cleveland. (on Bobcats vs. Cavaliers this season) I thought this was the best game that we played against Cleveland. (on offensive rebounds as a key) We cut out the transition defense, but where they really hurt us…even that last play there where we’ve got a chance to down and at least try for a three and we didn’t come up with the offensive rebound on the free throw. Varejao, you have to find him because that’s what he does, hit the boards. And, Ilgauskas is so long that at the end of the game he’s still 7-foot-3. He doesn’t shrink.
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM
BREVIN KNIGHT (on having the chance to win in 4th quarter) We made our run and they made their run and that’s what this game is. We were kind of stalemated for the entire game until we finally broke out and got ourselves a nice little lead. They made their run and we still withstood it as much as possible. We still had a chance to win at the end of the game. Even in overtime, we were right there. They made some key plays and they got a lot of offensive rebounds there toward the end. They crashed the boards hard and that was difference in the game.”
KEITH BOGANS
EMEKA OKAFOR
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
