Tip Off: 4:00 PM (PST)
Projected Starters
Charlotte Golden State
PG – D.J. Augustin Charles Jenkins
SG – Gerald Henderson Monta Ellis
SF – Tyrus Thomas Dorell Wright (listed as day-to-day)
PF – Boris Diaw David Lee
C – Byron Mullens Andris Biedrins
Scope the opposition: Get your Bobcats fix at Queen City Hoops.
Preview: The Golden State Warriors (3-7) will start out a four-game eastern road trip when they visit the Charlotte Bobcats (2-10) today. The Warriors are coming off a 117-109 loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic, in a game where Dwight Howard put up very Shaq-like 45 points and 23 rebounds.
The Bobcats on the other hand will be trying to recover from a blowout loss at home to the Detroit Pistons (3-9).
The Charlotte Bobcats have two huge problems that keep showing up in games: they cannot score and they cannot stop other teams from scoring. Sounds like two pretty big issues right?
On offense, the Bobs struggle to score essentially because they only have two players capable of consistently creating shots for themselves and for others. On some teams, that is sufficient; but not in Charlotte. D.J. Augustin and Boris Diaw are good players and not great ones; thus they are limited in their ability to consistently create high percentage looks.
Kemba Walker helps out the Bobcats with his ability to get by defenders, but he isn’t exactly the best finisher on the team; and quite frankly the same could be said about most of the players on the roster. Indeed, the Bobs score 36.3 points in the paint per game (26th in the NBA) because they are team in strong need of players willing to attack and finish at the basket. As it stands right now, their most talented player is Boris Diaw; but he is clearly out of shape and so far this season he has attempted four free throws in 10 games. Yes, four!
On defense, the Bobcats struggle to stay in front of their man and also do not have big men capable of thwarting attempts at the rim. Thus, the end result is that Charlotte surrenders 47.3 points in the paint per game (28th in the league). That kind of soft interior defense means that teams essentially live in the lane against Charlotte and also get to stripe fairly frequently.
On the season, the Bobs yield 24.5 free throw attempts per game (22nd in the association) to their opponents, which obviously helps the opposition set up their defense.
But further exacerbating issues for Paul Silas’ unit is the fact that the interior defense is just so awful that it leads to breakdowns on the weak side where players get wide open for 3-point shots. On the season, Bobcats opponents are shooting a scorching 37.7 percent from deep.
As a result, the Golden State Warriors should attack the paint early and often against Charlotte and then kick the ball out to shooters for open looks.
Monta Ellis will probably be matched up against Gerald Henderson who happens to be a very good defender. However, if Mark Jackson puts him in a couple of pick-and-rolls with David Lee, one of the Warriors players is bound to be able to get inside the paint for a high percentage shot.
Let’s see if the Warriors are smart enough to find one play that Charlotte cannot defend and then just simply keep running it until the Bobs actually do figure it out.
Golden State game notes: In five games this month, David Lee is averaging 17.4 points and 12.4 rebounds on 52.9 percent field goal shooting.
Charlotte game notes: On the season, Boris Diaw is averaging 8.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists on 42.5 percent field goal shooting.
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