GT: vs Atlanta Fri Nov 22 7PM

[fatlever]

can we keep the momentum going? the hawks have had our number the past few years.

[KembaWalker]

seems like JSmoove always kills us. He's off to a relatively slow start his season. Not sure if thats a good or bad thing..

[vorbis]

can't wait to see this barometer game. another test in the early goings of the season for the bobcats.

[mrknowitall215]

I'm not particularly concerned with Josh Smith these days because the 'Cats have been doing a great job defending the paint under Dunlap with Haywood, Mullens, & Biyombo downlow. However, I am worried about that little midrange jump shot of Al Horford's torching them for 25+ points. Hopefully he has a off night. Kardiac Kemba should be able to keep Jeff Teague in check, and force him into several costly turnovers. The downside to that though, of having Kemba defend Teague throughout most of the game, may lead to Lou Williams getting off on Ramon Sessions. Don't sleep on Devin Harris either in that role. We'll see, but I think the 'Cats can seal yet another victory, and create another hostile fanbase towards them

[lmcguir5]

One thing I've noticed just so far is how good of a defensive team we are. MKG and Taylor can both on any given night shut down a player on the other team to the point that we almost take him completely out of the game. Our krpytonite so far this year has been the 3-ball and we need MKG to shut Korver down. Mullens is going to be chopped liver after playing Josh Smith all night, he's going to be the death of us. I would love to see Biz get some good minutes in this game to show that the other night just wasn't a fluke. Can't wait to watch this one, GO CATS

[PalmTree]

All I ask is that we not allow Korver to have a big game. Don't like that guy at all. I do have a bad feeling about this game...but that's probably because of our recent history with them. To win we're going to need to be more efficient with the ball. Stop the stupid turnovers, and stop launching so many 3 pointers...especially from Mullens and Sessions.

[HornetJail]

MKG vs. Josh should be worth looking out for. Mullens and Warrick will be useless on him and Biz and Haywood aren't great out near the perimeter. We should play small tonight with MKG matched up with Smith at the PF. MKG can keep Smith out near the perimeter where we want him. He'll launch tons of bad threes and that's exactly what we want.

[bobcats3wallace]

Yeah I would agree that our best match-up would be to put MKG on Smith as much as possible. The Hawks start two PG's in Harris and Teague, so we should be able to match-up well with our two PG sets of Sessions/Kemba. IN addition, Korver is a guy that one of our Guards can play...this means we can play a lot of small ball if need be with Kemba/Sessions/Gordon. No matter who they have at SF, unless it is Smith, I would feel comfortable with having Sessions guarding (it would be Stevenson or Korver).

Bottom line, we actually match-up well with the Hawks. This game should mean limited minutes to Mullens and almost no minutes to Warrick. The majority of the game should feature Kemba, Sessions, Taylor, MKG, Haywood/Bioyombo. In this you could stick MKG on Smith, and Taylor on Korver. I think this would play favorably to us and I also feel that Bioyombo could prove effective guarding Horford on the mid-range game.

I hate to predict we win, because I'm not convinced we will, but we do match-up well. The Hawks will allow us to put our best lineup out there for long stretches without giving up any on D....and we haven't really had that opportunity too much this season. If we do loose, it will be because a guy like Korver lights us up from 3. Taylor must absolutely STICK on Korver and deny him the ball. Outside from that I would love to see Biyombo continue what he started against the Raps.

Prediction: Bobcats, 94-90. Go Cats!

[ohara]

I think the Cats need to play 4 consistent and strong qtrs to win this one. Cannot afford to have one of those qtrs where we get outscored 32 - 13. Atlanta is not easy for Charlotte and we have to be on top of our game to win this one This one is for sole 2nd in the SE Division. It is a home game. Will be a major step forward for the franchise if we stay strong and protect our home court tonight.

[TwentyOne920]

Keys to the game:

Closing out on shooters, especially Ashton Kutcher, er I mean Kyle Korver
Forcing Josh Smith into a bad shooting night (i.e. force him to take threes and long twos instead of attacking the basket)

[LamarMatic7]

So how can Gerald Henderson say that his foot will keep him out for at least another week?



Seems fine to me.

[mrknowitall215]

So how can Gerald Henderson say that his foot will keep him out for at least another week?



Seems fine to me.

He probably re-aggravated it

[Fred Williamson]

So how can Gerald Henderson say that his foot will keep him out for at least another week?



Seems fine to me.

lmao.

can't wait until he returns.

[MPM]

No strategy needed for tonight. Now that we clearly have all NBA refs in our back pocket, should be smooth sailing to 78-4

The Raps thing has opened a pandora's box of nutjobs. I saw Bucks fans on another board saying 'yea, it happened to us when we played them as well - the refs are obviously pro Bobcat." Friggin' hilarious.

[lmcguir5]

It honestly just sounds like to me that other teams are still sore about losing to a team that won 7 games last year. Fact of the matter is, we've been getting no calls where we deserve calls, Violet Palmer did us no favors in that Raps game either. And to say that refs are "Pro-Bobcat" is absurd. We have no stars and we were the worst team ever by winning percentage standards.

[e4Nf6]

LOL at the great Bobcats conspiracy...

If the league is fixing things for us why does Anthony Davis play for New Orleans?

[ATTL]

Stern has an obvious pro-bobcat agenda. He wants that money that comes from the Charlotte mega market.

[lmcguir5]

Are you stupid? I'm pretty sure if memory serves right that Stern was the guy that screwed us out of Davis with the first pick. Pro-Bobcat agenda? It honestly sounds like you're already making excuses in case that you lose this game.

[catch20two]

Sarcasm font

[lmcguir5]

All apologies, I wasnt aware