RealGM

Bobcats vs. Sixers

7 p.m., Wells Fargo Center

TV: SportSouth. Radio: WFNZ-AM 610

Matchup to Watch

Michael Carter-Williams vs. Kemba Walker: Carter-Williams is the early favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year. At 6-foot-6 he’s among the league’s biggest point guards, capable of assembling a triple-double.

Observations

• The Sixers have cooled off some since their surprisingly fast start. They’ve lost their past four games, to Minnesota, Cleveland, Detroit and New York.

• Evan Turner is putting up big numbers the season before he hits free agency. The 76ers didn’t lock him up to an extension last summer.

Tap-ins

• The Sixers have won five straight against the Bobcats in Philadelphia.

• The Sixers commit an NBA-high 17.3 turnovers per game.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/14/ ... lphia.html

LamarMatic7 wrote:It will be pull-up twos galore at the 2 guard tonight. Gerald Henderson, Evan Turner, BOBCATS AT SIXERS IS NEXT!!!

Game #40: Bobcats @ Sixers Preview w/ Philadunkia + team notes/links

For starters today, Carey Smith of Philadunkia asked me to participate in their preview for tonight’s game in Philly and threw some good Bobcats questions my way — [urlhttp://philadunkia.com/?p=10927]check it out here.[/url]

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist returned to the lineup last night and added the defensive presence that this team has missed so dearly since he was injured in early December. Last night, with MKG in the lineup the team had a defensive rating of 99.1 — without him on the floor, the team was 113.0. So yeah, nice to have him back.

Let’s give Gerald Henderson a shout-out — in the month of January (7 games), Hendo is averaging 18.6 PPG, 48.9 FG% + 45.5 3FG%.

The next two games are extremely important for Charlotte – they’re both road games, but also against two eastern conference bottom feeders, Philadelphia and Orlando. The Bobcats haven’t been terrible on the road this season, going 7-12 so far, and two straight W’s on this quick east coast road trip would have them sitting pretty again in the playoff hunt.

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer tweeted last night that Al Jefferson may require surgery in the off-season to clean up his right ankle that will have built up some serious scar tissue by season’s end. Speaking of Jefferson, he had a season high 35 points on 14-20 shooting from the floor last night in Charlotte’s victory over the Knicks.

Philadelphia –

The Bobcats get a shot at the fastest team in basketball tonight, according to the PACE factor. The Sixers use 102.1 possessions per game — Michael Carter-Williams leads the charge to Philly’s up-tempo attack. Although the Sixers like to play fast, they’re not extremely efficient at scoring on the break – 18.7% of their possessions end up being in transition, but Philly only scores 1-point per transition possession + shoots just 51.8% — that’s good for 30th in the league.

Steve Clifford preaches transition defense consistently, and has since day 1, so I’d be surprised to see this Bobcats team squander too many fast-break points tonight to their opponent.

Philadelphia turns the ball over on 14.9% of their total possessions – 26th in the league. Charlotte had only 5 turnovers last night – a season best. The turnover category will definitely be something to watch tonight + will play a key role in the outcome of the game.

http://queencityhoops.com/blog/2014/01/ ... oteslinks/

Matchups

Kemba on MCW: When they two teams last met back on December 6th, MCW sat out with his knee “injury” and Kemba Walker had a field day — 18 & 10 as well as 46% shooting from the field. I know #1 has trouble defending smaller, quicker guards, so I am not asking for MCW to shut Walker down with his defense. What I am hoping is that MCW can make Walker work his ass off on defense for Charlotte and the spent energy on that end of the floor will combine with weary legs from back-to-back games in order to take some of the punch out of Walker’s offensive game.

Sixers Bigs vs. Al Jefferson: Al Jefferson has been plagued by an ankle injury all year that may require surgery in summer 2014. That’s a big reason, he is averaging only 16.8 points per night (His lowest since 2006-07), and his 45.2% shooting from the field is the worst of his career. However, Al exploded last night for a season-high 35 points in a 108-98 victory over the Knicks in Charlotte. Jefferson finished 14 of 20 from the field and also grabbed eight rebounds. Obviously Hawes can not stop Jefferson on his own. So with Lavoy out again (No comment.) and Moultrie still not ready; a combination of Hawes, Thad and the newly signed Dewayne Dedmon will be asked to hold a theoretically tired Jefferson under 30 points tonight.

Q&A with Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com:

Philadunkia: The Bobcats have lost 8 out of their last 10 (Big win over NYK last night). What are some of the ills that have plagued Charlotte during this stretch?

Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com: A reeling defense. Kidd-Gilchrist returning to the lineup last night will help this team in so many ways – for starters, MKG is the anchor to a defense that was top-5 in the league until his injury. Just wrap your mind around this stat — last night, Charlotte sported a 99.1 defensive rating with MKG on the floor and a 113.0 with him off. That tells you just about all that you need to know about this teams identity.

Philadunkia: We all know that Philadelphia product Gerald Henderson has really shown some improvement this season. But from what I have read online and seen on NBATV Henderson has taken to another level in January. What do you see as the reasons for Henderson’s recent surge?

Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com: Hendo is simply hitting shots right now. His comfort zone is the right corner, where he loves to use his rhythm dribble + fade away to get his shot. A few things that stick out about Hendo’s performance so far in January — 1) He’s getting to the foul line at a high rate – earning 5.7 trips to the charity stripe/game. 2) Hendo is taking more 3′s this month and he’s making 45.5% of them – likely somewhat of an anomaly, but it’s a great sign that the willingness to take the long-range shot continues to progress.

Philadunkia: Will the return of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist provide enough of a boost for the Bobcats to help them get past/stay in front of the surging Nets & Knicks in the standings and into the 2014 post season?

Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com: It’s hard to tell — on night’s when Jefferson or Kemba struggle to score the Bobcats are rather pathetic on the offensive end. To me, if this group returns to being a top-5 defensive unit again then I believe that will get them over the top and into the playoffs – without the return to the elite group of defenses, I just don’t see where the points are going to come from, consistently, for Charlotte.

Philadunkia: Bobcats owner Michael Jordan signed Al Jefferson last off-season to a big deal and has frequently stated that he is against tanking in the NBA. However, given where the Cats stand right now — 15 wins & clinging to the 8th seed in the East — do you think MJ needs to rethink his opinion on tanking?

Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com: Whether he should re-think it or not, he’s not going to. This team is poised to make a post-season push and getting Jefferson going on the offensive end for the remainder of the season is going to be key to that. Last night was a great start to the return of MKG and if this team can string together some wins by all-star break + stay in the playoff hunt, I’m fairly certain they’ll end up being buyers at the trade deadline.

http://philadunkia.com/?p=10927

catch20two wrote:MCW bringing that vaunted Syracuse defense tonight. Kemba should be able to break him down all night long. I hope he's still feeling himself from the 2nd half of last night's game.

LamarMatic7 wrote:

catch20two wrote:MCW bringing that vaunted Syracuse defense tonight. Kemba should be able to break him down all night long. I hope he's still feeling himself from the 2nd half of last night's game.

KnowItAll has seen a lot more of him than me so we should wait for his opinion but MCW isn't that bad on defense. The whole team is bad on that end and just plays like a squad that has given up on constantly bringing it on D. However, MCW has shown flashes of being a good defender and an understanding on how things should be done.

JDR720 wrote:MCW leads the NBA in steals and he is a lot taller than Kemba... it wont be an easy night for Kemba

lmcguir5 wrote:Charlotte pie! Woohoo!

LamarMatic7 wrote:

lmcguir5 wrote:Charlotte pie! Woohoo!

which slice is it?