Charlotte
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Charlotte Bobcats dropped their ninth game in a row, losing 97-92to the Boston Celtics last night. The superstars from both teams exploded late in the game: Emeka Okafor, scoreless in the first half and often timid because of early foul trouble on the defensive end, corralled a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds and also had a game-high five blocks to power the Bobcats on both ends of the floor, but Paul "Fourth-Quarter" Pierce scored 14 of his game-high 33 points in the final period, mainly on free throws, to ice the game.
Jason Hart led all players with 10 assists, ably replacing the injured Brevin Knight in the starting lineup. Keith Bogans sparked the team with his scoring off the bench, notching 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and one absolutely spectacular weak-side put back of a missed free throw, in just 20 minutes of action. Primoz Brezec was two rebounds shy of a double-double with some impressive jump-shooting from about 12 feet on either baseline. Brezec's former European teammate and current Celtic Jiri Welsch, meanwhile, played just 11 minutes and scored just 5 points.
Gerald Wallace had much of the duty guarding Pierce, though head coach Bernie Bickerstaff did mix it up a lot at that position. In addition to Bogans, he also deployed Jason Kapono for some duty. Everyone seemed to think that the best way to defend Pierce is to outscore him. Combined, Bogans, Kapono, and Wallace scored 28 points in 62 total minutes of action (obviously there was overlap). Pierce scored 33.
Steve Smith perhaps could have been a more wily veteran stopper but Bickerstaff did not call his number the whole game, probably to give him some time off to recover as he was only recently activated from the injured list and played just six minutes in their previous game on Sunday.
NEXT GAME
The Bobcats (8-30, fourth in the Southeast, still a half game above Atlanta) travel to take on the league's hottest team, the Chicago Bulls (21-19, third in the Central), who are riding a four-game winning streak and are above .500 for the first time since 1998. The Bobcats desperately need a win if they are to avoid a 10-game losing streak. The game is slated for Thursday, January 27, 2005 at 8:30pm Eastern. The game will be broadcast on C-SET and NBA League Pass.
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INJURY UPDATE
Jahidi White(shoulder), Theron Smith(knee),Tamar Slay (foot) are all parked on the injured list.Brevin Knight(ankle) did not play in last night's game.