[Hov's Cats]

[Lamrock]

Damn, its about time you get a win. Hopefully Ilgauskas stays in Cleveland. I like when guys remain on a team for their whole career. Good luck next week. Hopefully you can break even (or record your first winning week!)

[TomCat]

Wow great writing in this story. Really interesting.

1-8 Ouch.

[Martti.]

No New Jersey Nets anymore, more like the T-Wolves.

[kibaxx7]

No New Jersey Nets anymore, more like the T-Wolves.

At least you won one, hova!

[Lightning Strike]

Damn, its about time you get a win. Hopefully Ilgauskas stays in Cleveland. I like when guys remain on a team for their whole career. Good luck next week. Hopefully you can break even (or record your first winning week!)

Pierce.

[hova-]

Sit, haha owned no 0-18 in Charlotte. Z would be a nice acquisition but I don't think he will leave Cleveland since Shaq is possibly gone after the season.

Lightning Strike, thanks man. Yeah I knew it would be hard, but that's definitely not what I had in mind. But I am now very comfortable with the team as I start to get to know the strenghts and weaknesses of each player and also found some good plays for everybody.

dare, thanks, man.

Lamrock, well I hope he stays in CLE, maybe if Shaq leaves after the season. The next week could be my first winning week as I head to Orlando, which I dont think I can win, but later head to Philly (4-7) and Milwaukee (who are a suprisingly 5-2 with Jennings rockin, but more in the Preview) and I think the latter two are beatable.

TomCat, thank you. The record aint too good, but hell, the team isnt either

Martti., I'm confident that we grab at least one win next week. No Minny Bobcats.

Thierry., that's it. I needed some time to get in touch with my team. Further I sucked at 2k10 from the beginning. But Im getting more comfortable with em now.

Thx for the love, guys.

[john26]

tough losses over the magic and the blazers, but you pulled a decent win over the pistons.

[Lightning Strike]

Lightning Strike, thanks man. Yeah I knew it would be hard, but that's definitely not what I had in mind. But I am now very comfortable with the team as I start to get to know the strenghts and weaknesses of each player and also found some good plays for everybody.

That's great, I knew that you'd start to get used to them pretty quick, I see a few more wins in the coming weeks.

[hova-]

The Bobcats will look to get out of the cellar of the league this week

Week 4 (16th-23th of November)

After finally winning a game last week against the Pistons, Charlotte is looking to add more Ws to their schedule as they head on a three-game road trip. The Cats will head to Orlando for their 2nd game against the Magic in one week. After the trip to Florida the Bobcats will move on to the Wachovia Center to play the 76ers. The last game will be at Milwaukee on Friday to end the trip which will be followed by a three game homestand.
General Manager and coach Chris Hov is looking to win at least two games this week. We're eager to add more wins and I think with them (the 76ers and the Bucks) we have some good chances to grab at least two wins. The Magic will be hard as they proved to be a tough opponent last week. We will see.".

The Magic (6-4) will host the Bobcats on Monday. Despite winning the last game @ Charlotte the Magic did not play well last week as they dropped consecutive games after visiting the Cats. The Magic lost to the Cavs and surprisingly to the Nets and dropped to 6-4 which is still good enough to claim the 2nd spot in the Southeast Division behind the Atlanta Hawks. A main reason for the two game loosing skid was the weak play of PG Jameer Nelson. The guard, who was averaging about 17 points per game before the two losses, could only record 5 points and 6 assists in both games as he shot only 3/9 from the field. Nelson also had 9 turnovers over both games. He had zero points against the Cavs stellar defense. Rashard Lewis only scored 8 in that loss. Still, Lewis has found his way out of a shooting slump and improved to 15.4 points per game. Dwight Howard is still Mr. Orlando. He is having another All-Star and - if the Magic improve as a team - MVP-season. 22.6 points, 15.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game are all career highs so far. He should be the key as the Bobcats have problems on the boards as well as on their inside defense.

The Philadelphia 76ers (3-7) will host the Bobcats on Wednesday. For the 76ers, the start into the season has been everything but good, which also led to the signing of 76ers legend Allen Iverson. So far Iverson could not help the 76ers out of their problems as they sit on the last spot in their division. After dropping three straight since his signing the Sixers were at least able to grab a win last Saturday @Chicago when they beat the Bulls 111-93. Andre Igoudala scored 29 points and added 9 boards and 5 assists. Elton Brand had 18 and 9. But the Sixers are lacking of a real hierarchy and structure. The AI deal even amplified that. The Sixers lack of a real playmaker and are only averaging 15.9 assists so far this season. And even with the signing of three point specialist Jason Kapono they are still sitting at 4th least in three point shooting with .31%. The small ball with Louis Williams who is scoring 13.9 points per game and Allen Iverson who adds 14.8 points and 4.0 assists has so far only led to problems on defense as they 76ers get outplayed by bigger guards. Thad Young is coming off the bench and scoring 12.0 points, but he could have had a breakout season but does not see enough minutes with Elton Brand back in the starting lineup. Brand is still looking to find his old himself as he is only scoring 14.8 points but grabbing an effective 10.2 rebounds per game.
The team leader is still Andre Igoudala, a guy who is predestined to be a second option. "AI2" is so far averaging 19.3 points and 6.5 rebound as well as 5.1 assists per game. Scottie Pippen like numbers. But we all know who Pippen was. The best number two of all time on the best team of all times.

The Milwaukee Bucks (5-2) will be the last opponents on the Bobcats' road trip. The Bucks are by far the surprising team of the season as they are at a respectable 5-2 right now. The key factors for their success? Michael Redd seems to be injury free and has returned to his All-Star shape of two years ago. He is the go-to-guy and comes up with an average of 28.6 points per game sitting at 5th best in scoring this season. Rookie Brandon Jennings is showing everything he was promising before the season. Jennings, coming to the NBA after one year in Italy, is averaging 20.3 points and 4.6 assists after his first seven games. He has scored 20 points for more than 4 times this season and is helping the Bucks scoring who have always been struggling on offense. With the defense concentrating on Redd and Jennings, Andrew Bogut has been able to step up lately. His 13.1 points and 10.4 rebound are good enough to outduel most Centers in the East. Part of the Bucks' success has also been their easy schedule at the beginning of the season. The Bucks grabbed wins against the 76ers, T-Wolves, Knicks and Pistons which were all more or less easy wins. They grabbed their 2nd loss of the season against the Warriors on Sunday though, as they could not use a high scoring night of Michael Redd (39p) and Brandon Jennings (23p) to grab a win and lost 118-105.

[Martti.]

I hope you finally finish a week with a positive record, although I hope you won't beat by Bucks.

[cavs4872]

I'm expecting a two-win, one-loss week out of you. A loss to the Magic is acceptable, but not to the Sixers or Bucks. Good luck.

[kibaxx7]

Jennings plays great everywhere

[cavs4872]

Jennings plays great everywhere

Except at home against the Cavs.

[TomCat]

3 game road trip all this week. Unfortunately I think it's going to be difficult to pull out a win this week..

[Martti.]

XxHyperDunk24, Jennings was great, the rest of the team sucked.

[cavs4872]

XxHyperDunk24, Jennings was great, the rest of the team sucked.

I wouldn't consider shooting nine for twenty-two a "great" performance by any means. Don't get me wrong though, Jennings will definitely be a great player in the future. Don't forget, he's still only a rookie: http://www.nba.com/video/games/bucks/20 ... play3.nba/

[Fresh8]

I love reading your association. Keep it up Hova!

Throw ur diamonds in the sky if u feel the vibbeeee!!!!!

[|)e8*]

Oops missed Week 3 but nevertheless nice first win and good luck against Magic and Bucks and Philly

[Valor]

a win at last, good job
now go get a 2-1 record in your next week

[Lightning Strike]

Great preview write-up, you can definitely beat Philadelphia but beating Milwaukee is really going to be tough, especially shutting down Redd, Bogut and/or Jennings. Orlando will be tough, very tough. Keep up the great writing Hov, enjoying everything so far!

[Mark.]

Good win over the Pistons, looks like another tough week coming up. Loving the recap style too mate. Will read it properly when I get a bit more time.

[hova-]

SIMULATED GAME

Charlotte takes second loss against Magic as Lewis scores 29

Charlotte, November 16th

Rashard Lewis has been too much for the Bobcats just once again. After scoring 25 on 9-18 shooting last week @Charlotte, Lewis dropped 29 points on 11-20 shooting and grabbed 9 rebounds. He hit 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. The Bobcats led by 6 after a high-scoring first quarter as Stephen Jackson scored 14 of his team-high 28 points. But after the decent first quarter Charlotte fell into a slump and could never return. Jason Williams added 5 points in a second quarter run of the Magic as they regained the lead and made it a 8 point game at halftime. Despite good bench scoring by Flip Murray and Gerald Henderson who added 7 apiece, the Bobcats were not able to turn around and found no way to defend Rashard Lewis. He had 12 points in the 3rd and made it a 15 point game with a three pointer late in the 3rd which decided the game. Jameer Nelson added 11 points and 6 assists and Dwight Howard had 14 points and 11 rebounds to give the Magic the 85-98 home win. The Bobcats had only one player over 11 points and only 4 players in double digits as they move to 1-10.

Magic Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore







Jackson with a late and 1 dunk which sealed the deal on his career night

Jackson scores 52 as Bobcats beat Philly

Philadelphia, November 18th
Stephen Jackson has been a very solid acquisition for the Bobcats so far. He showed a good scoring punch and helped out with his tough defense. But so far the Bobcats had only grabbed one win out of 9 games and thus Jackson decided to take over completely and lift the Cats to their second win of the season. "Captain Jack" scored a career, NBA season, and All-time Bobcats high 52 points as Charlotte ran to the victory in Philadelphia. From the very first second Jackson was on fire. He scored 21 points alone in the first quarter, mostly against the smaller guard Louis Williams and Allen Iverson. "You cannot play him with 6-1 guards. Philly tried it and failed completely", Coach Hov said after the game. Jackson went to the low post to beat his smaller defenders. He also hit his mid range shot steadily to give the Cats a 13 point leader after the first quarter. Allen Iverson injured his back in the first but was able to return later. In the second quarter were finally able to find their rhythm which had a lot to do with Thaddeus Young coming off the bench to score 9 points in his first 3 minutes of playing time. "How can you let someone like Thad Young on bench for the whole first quarter and instead give the playing time to Louis Williams and Allen Iverson", TNT analyst Charles Barkley moaned on TV after the game. "Right now the Sixers are doing everything wrong. Maybe I should come back to Philly and replace Elton Brand, that would not change anything on this team", he continued. He was not completely right. The 76ers managed to make a big comeback in the 3rd. Allen Iverson scored 12 points and Louis Williams added 10 in a nice scoring punch in the third when Philly cut the deficit to 4. They could not handle Stephen Jackson though, as he already had 39 points when both teams headed in the 4th quarter.
But the Bobcats became sloppy. Bad shots and non existing D allowed the 76ers to come back step by step in the 4th. With 3:14 to go Andre Igoudala, who had 16 points and hit 2-3 from downtown, tied the game with a 18 footer. The game went back and forth and with 1:15 left Philly's game high man Thad Young hit a three from the corner to give the Sixers a 2 point lead.
This was when Captain Jack stepped up once again. Already having scored 10 points in the 4th he stole the ball from Louis Williams as the Sixers were setting up. He ran down the court all the way and dunked it down on Williams for a three point play. Jackson hit the freethrow and the Cats led by 2. The Sixers came back to tie the game but with 20 seconds left the Bobcats set up Gerald Wallace on the top of the arc. Wallace, who has been .21% from three point land this season so far, hit nothing but net and showed his importance to give the Cats the lead and the win. He had 25 points as Jax and Wallace combined for 77 of the 103 points. The Cats had a season-high 9 steals and forced 9 turnovers as they head to their second win of the season. Louis Williams and Allen Iverson combined for 37 points and 21 assists.


Sixers Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
Team Stats
Allen Iverson injured his lower back but came back later
Louis Williams driving to the basket
Iverson scored 20 points on 7-17 shooting
Guard chase down: Williams blocks Felton







Hakim Warrick and the Bucks continued their strong season as they beat the Bobcats

Redd, Bucks too much for Charlotte

Milwaukee, November 20th
After grabbing a nice win in Philadelphia, the Bobcats were not able to build a streak at Milwaukee. It was mainly because of foul trouble as Stephen Jackson and Tyson Chandler were only able to play 27 and 14 minutes respectively. Boris Diaw though came out hot as he had 10 points and 4 rebounds in the first. In a low scoring first quarter Michael Redd had 6 points in 7 minutes as he also sat out with two fouls. The Bobcats led by a slight margin but the Bucks came back in the second. Redd scored 12 points and Jennings added 6 of his 11 to give the Bucks a 4 point lead at the half. And the Bobcats were never able to take the lead again. The Bucks got some nice firepower off the bench by Charlies Bell. He scored 15 points and hit two tough three pointer to give the Bucks an even bigger lead in the 3rd. Despite some good play by Gerald Wallace, who scored 15 points in the game and Ray Felton who had 13 and 9 assists, the Bobcats were never able to make it a tight game. Michael Redd had 29 points and 6 assists, Brandon Jennings added 11 and 7 assists and Andrew Bogut and Luc Mbah a Moute added 10 apiece to give the Bucks the win over the Bobcats. Cats' team-high man was Boris Diaw who played very well and scored 26 points on 7-12 shooting and hit 11-13 from the charity stripe. He also added 7 rebounds. Coming off a 52 point night, Stephen Jackson was limited to only 8 points in this game. The Bucks shot 8-22 from deep and got their bench to score 32 points as they head to 6-4 this season.



Buckss Boxscore
Bobcats Boxscore
Team Stats
Bogut with the hook
Brandon Jennings was decent once again
Warrick to the rim
Play Of The Game: Gerald Wallace with the sweet up and under alley oop from Raymond Felton

phpBB [video]

Peja out for 2-4 weeks
The New Orleans Hornets will miss Peja Stojakovic for 2-4 weeks with a heavily sprained ankle. Stojakovic landed on his ankle akwardly after one of his few trips to the basket in the Hornets 80-97 home win against the Clippers. The Serbian has been averaging 13.5 points this season so far shooting a stellar .47% from downtown. The Hornets are at 7-7 so far which is good enough for 2nd place in the struggling Southwest Division.

Hawks sign D-leaguer Williams
The Atlanta Hawks have signed former D-leaguer Russell Williams to a one-year contract. The 22-year old Small Forward had been on the Springfield Armors' roster at the beginning of the season but showed his ability to score in several workouts. The Hawks signed the former Mississippi State collegiate, who led the Mississippi State Bulldogs in scoring on his 3rd year at the college.[/size]

[dare]

Captain Jack 52 points for the 2nd win nice

[Fresh8]

Nice. Career high 52 from Jackson.

[Valor]

52
wow, thats all i can say
great win