Pistons 103, Bobcats 92

Somehow the Bobcats ended up playing the Pistons on Wednesday night for the fourth time this season. I’m beginning to think the schedule-makers must be under the impression that we’re the Green Bay Bobcats or something. Either that or they believe Charlotte is located in western Pennsylvania, because it seems like we've played more Central Division teams than Southeastern ones this year.

The Pistons had revenge on their minds after we ran our record to 2-1 on them with a win last time in Detroit. I’m not sure what the Bobcats had on their minds, but it was undoubtedly deep and poignant, because they really looked distracted at times. Perhaps they were concerned over the worsening situation in Somalia, but whatever it was, 18 turnovers and just 63% from the foul line indicate a lack of focus. The other excuse being tossed around was our paucity of available big men. True, Jake Voskuhl was sick and didn’t play, so that was one key injury. And if you count injuries to Primoz Brezec, Melvin Ely, and Othella Harrington…well, that’s still just one key injury because those guys don’t play much anyway. I mean, we ought to just call them “Dwayne Casey” Brezec, “Shine” Ely, and “Scooter” Harrington if we’re going to use them as the scapegoats for this loss.

The one bright side was Gerald Wallace, who had 29 points and 11 rebounds and seemed like a one-man band at times. Just call him Herbie Hancock, because often he was directing, producing, and performing all of our offense by himself. Occasionally G-Dub collaborated with Emeka Okafor, Raymond Felton (the usual 17 points and 8 assists), and an efficient Sean May (14 points and 6 boards in just under 28 minutes). But we could have used some more guest appearances. Adam Morrison doubled his output from last game, which sounds good until you realize he only had three points against Toronto. He also appeared unable to keep up defensively with Chris Webber, which is kind of disturbing when you think about it. Meanwhile, Matt Carroll, who has been “unconscious” lately, finally came to last night with just 4 points, and it was Tayshaun Prince’s defense that provided the smelling salts.

I was pretty bummed out by such a flat performance at home. Needing something more lighthearted and cheery, I flipped over to HBO and watched Munich. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll see Detroit again. Considering the schedule thus far, it’ll probably be next week...