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QUARTER-BY-QUARTER ANALYSIS
First quarter: The Bobcats had been playing well at home recently and were trying to add to Toronto’s road problems. The Raptors came in on the last stop of a five-game trip and had gone 1-3 in the previous games. Charlotte started well enough, hitting from the free throw line and the floor and going ahead by four. But the game quickly turned, with the Bobcats’ shooting plunging and the Raptors picking up steam. From a 7-7 tie Toronto went on a 14-3 run in a span of 2:43, rushing in front 21-10 in the process. The Bobcats finally came out of the dry spell but could still do little to slow the Raptors, who scored on eight consecutive possessions at one point and later extended their lead to a high of 15 (29-14). They closed the period with a 31-18 lead, shooting 57.1 percent to Charlotte’s 33.3. Second quarter: Charlotte’s shooting picked up, thanks to the early efforts of Matt Carroll and Jason Kapono. That got the Bobcats moving again offensively and helped them cut into Toronto’s lead, getting it down to seven on two occasions in the middle stages of the period. But the Bobcats could do little defensively to cut into Toronto’s shooting proficiency, which remained in the mid-50 percent range. The Raptors sent the lead back to 12 on several occasions, frequently padding it with three-point shooting success. A 5-0 Charlotte spurt got the margin down to eight with 34.9 seconds remaining and the Bobcats had a chance to get even closer before the break. But Jason Hart was called for a charge on the ensuing play and was tagged with a technical foul for protesting. Morris Peterson hit the free throw and the Raptors had a 61-52 halftime advantage, despite Charlotte’s improvement to 57 percent shooting in the second. Thirteen of Toronto’s points came off nine Charlotte turnovers. Emeka Okafor had 14 points and nine rebounds and Carroll had 11 points to pace the Bobcats. Chris Bosh scored 14 and Jalen Rose 12 to top Toronto. Third quarter: The Raptors threatened repeatedly to run off and hide, wrapping up a win early against a Charlotte team that has consistently pursued victories to the finish. They were up by 17, 82-65, with a little over four minutes to play. Okafor immediately pumped life into the Bobcats, scoring eight points in 1:19 on a dunk, two free throws, a baseline jumper and another dunk on the break, while the Raptors went scoreless. That sliced the Bobcats’ deficit to a single digit at nine (82-73) and set up an overall 15-6 finish to the quarter that had Charlotte within eight, 88-80, at the close. The Bobcats finally found their shooting eyes on a consistent basis in the period, making 9-of-15 shots (60.0 percent) and lifting their overall percentage to 50.0. Fourth quarter: Okafor and the Bobcats kept coming at the outset. Okafor scored underneath at 11:41, drew a foul from Donyell Marshall in the process and hit the free throw to make it a five-point game at 88-83. Toronto built the lead back to 10 moments later on a basket and free throw by Bosh and to 12 a short time afterward on a Jalen Rose jump hook. But the Bobcats kept firing back and, near the mid-point of the quarter, appeared ready for another run to the finish. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, appearances were deceiving – they twice got within eight, once with 1:15 remaining, but could come no closer. The Raptors were more consistent offensively at the end and wound up with a 119-107 victory, led by Bosh with 27 points and Rose with 23. Okafor had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Bobcats.
GM & HEAD COACH BERNIE BICKERSTAFF SAYS... (on the Raptors’ consistent shooting and scoring) That’s what they do, they score. That’s what Jalen does, he scores. Bosh scores. And there was a stretch when we were cutting into the lead, the defense was pretty good on Bosh. (But) he turned around and made a nice shot. In those situations you have no problem with that. Guys defending you, you make a shot, so be it. But there were some situations early in the game where we basically conceded shots. And in this league, good players, they’re going to make open shots…Talking to our guys, we told them, when you’re playing basketball and you don’t break a sweat you know the deal. (on the Bobcats offense) There were some shots we didn’t take that we should have taken. The shots on this team will always be there. They went to a zone which was a good move and we didn’t flash in the middle. I think the zone discombobulated us. (on the Bobcats nonetheless shooting 51.4 percent and scoring 107 points) You just want more. But what it all comes down to, you have to stop them. That takes a heck of an effort. You have to step up with that pride, that defensive pride, and even personal pride. Take it personal. You have to stop them. I think it’s unique (for the Bobcats). I have no problems with this basketball team in terms of consistency and what they do, period. I’m in their corner. They compete. They work at it consistently. They share the basketball. We happen to run into some pretty darn good teams and they do what they do, they make shots and they score. (on the play of Okafor in particular and the front line in general) What didn’t happen tonight, and what’s been happening, is our front line with their 17 and double figures all the way across. So our front line was not that productive in total tonight. So (Okafor) had a burden. He made plays. But where his value will come on our basketball team when you put it all together will be on the defensive end, in cleaning up drives. What we have to learn to do is help the helper. Primoz (Brezec) has to clean that thing up and his teammates have to make sure he’s not embarrassed by helping the helper. Right now we’re not very good at that. (on the play of Toronto’s Chris Bosh) He’s a player. And he has started to assert himself now that (Vince) Carter is out (traded to New Jersey). He took a lesser role and now he’s stepping to the front. He’s a heck of a basketball player…Toronto did a nice job. We’ll keep going. We play tomorrow night and we’ll try to break that nine-game winning streak Chicago has. We’ll keep moving forward.
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM
MATT CARROLL (on winning the NBDL MVP award) It’s nice to get an award like that. It gives you an extra bounce in your step. (on his performance tonight) I came out tonight just trying to be aggressive. I wanted to try to give the team a spark off the bench. I feel like that’s what I’m here for, so that’s what I try to do. (on Saturday night’s game at Chicago) We’ve just got to forget about this game and learn from it. We’ve got to go after the Bulls tomorrow night. They got us at home the other day. Ben Gordon put on a heck of a show. We’ve got to do a better job of containing him and try to knock them off their winning streak.
BREVIN KNIGHT (on the Bobcats’ play) It looked liked we just didn’t have energy tonight. You never want to say that because the one thing we pride ourselves on is playing hard. Tonight I think we felt that we would just come back like we normally do. But they did a good job of not letting us. They made shots when they had to, and they got to the free throw line in the fourth quarter. They played a good game. They did what they had to do to win.
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