Bobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—The Bobcats changed coaches after a terrible start
and traded away their only All-Star. Their top scorer has a chronic hamstring
injury and is dangerously close to a one-game suspension.

They played their most recent game without a center and saw their top two
point guards sidelined with injuries in a one-minute span.

And yet Charlotte has won three straight and sits only a game out of a
playoff spot.

Perhaps it’s only possible in the forgiving bottom half of the Eastern
Conference, but the Bobcats (31-42) are making no apologies for sticking around
in a season that’s featured a little bit of everything.

“It just shows me that the guys really want it. They’re not going to give
up,” coach Paul Silas said Tuesday. “They’re going to keep working hard.
Everybody’s contributing and that’s what’s most important.”

With so few players available, Tuesday’s practice featured little more than
tossing a football around and playing shooting games. But after somehow pulling
out a crucial victory a night earlier against Milwaukee, Silas felt it was the
right time to rest.

With starting center Kwame Brown(notes) dealing with a family emergency and backup
Joel Przybilla(notes) sidelined with knee pain, the Bobcats had no centers against the
Bucks. They then lost starting point guard D.J. Augustin(notes) (sprained left ankle,
bruised right knee) and backup Shaun Livingston(notes) (bruised tailbone) early in the
fourth quarter and fell behind by nine points.

All they did was hold the Bucks scoreless over the final 3:52. Gerald
Henderson(notes), barely used under former coach Larry Brown before being thrust into
the starting lineup when Gerald Wallace(notes) was traded to Portland, scored the
game’s final seven points in an 87-86 victory.

Boris Diaw(notes), who may have to play some point guard Wednesday against
Cleveland if Augustin and Livingston are out, played center in the fourth
quarter against Milwaukee. Stephen Jackson(notes), who said his left hamstring strain
is “getting better,” had to play power forward and avoided a
suspension-inducing 16th technical foul of the season.

Dante Cunningham(notes), a bit player in Portland before being acquired in the
Wallace deal, played in crunch time. Garrett Temple(notes), who was in the NBA
Development League earlier this month, played the final 10 minutes at point
guard and hit a big 3-pointer.

Temple, who had been on a second 10-day contract, was signed for the
remainder of the season just before the game.

“I guess it was a good move because we needed a third point guard,” he
said.

The win kept the Bobcats a game behind eighth-place Indiana in the East and
moved them two ahead of 10th place Milwaukee. The resurgence came after an
embarrassing 23-point home loss to the Pacers last week left many thinking owner
Michael Jordan’s team was out of the postseason equation.

“Obviously, it took a lot of wind out of our sails,” Henderson
acknowledged.

But two nights later, Charlotte staged a stirring comeback with Jackson
sidelined to become the first East team to win at Boston. A victory over New
York followed a day later before another improbable comeback against the Bucks
makes the playoffs possible again.

“I’ve seen crazier things happen,” Jackson said.

The volatile Jackson sure has in his well documented career. But Jackson has
also effectively led this team after the Wallace trade stunned the team.

“I’ve been on five NBA teams and I think this is the most close-knit
group,” Temple said. “We have team barbecues. Everybody jokes around with each
other. We’re laughing in the locker room.

“When you go into battle you want people that you’re close with and that
you know have your back. And we’re going through a battle right now trying to
get this eighth playoff spot.”

The Bobcats have nine games left and the Pacers seven. Indiana holds the
tiebreaker, so the Bobcats need to make up two games and get healthy quick.
Augustin is hoping to play Wednesday and Kwame Brown is expected back.

It would just be another obstacle to overcome for a franchise in which even
the support staff gets hurt. Assistant coach Charles Oakley has been away from
the team for nearly two weeks with a severe back injury. Play-by-play announcer
Steve Martin is in a walking boot.

“I think,” Silas said, “we have a pretty good shot of doing this thing.”