{"id":348460,"date":"2011-03-29T18:56:31","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T18:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-03-29T18:56:31","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T18:56:31","slug":"bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)\u2014The Bobcats changed coaches after a terrible start
\nand traded away their only All-Star. Their top scorer has a chronic hamstring
\ninjury and is dangerously close to a one-game suspension.<\/p>\n

They played their most recent game without a center and saw their top two
\npoint guards sidelined with injuries in a one-minute span.<\/p>\n

And yet Charlotte has won three straight and sits only a game out of a
\nplayoff spot.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s only possible in the forgiving bottom half of the Eastern
\nConference, but the Bobcats (31-42) are making no apologies for sticking around
\nin a season that\u2019s featured a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows me that the guys really want it. They\u2019re not going to give
\nup,\u201d coach Paul Silas said Tuesday. \u201cThey\u2019re going to keep working hard.
\nEverybody\u2019s contributing and that\u2019s what\u2019s most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so few players available, Tuesday\u2019s practice featured little more than
\ntossing a football around and playing shooting games. But after somehow pulling
\nout a crucial victory a night earlier against Milwaukee, Silas felt it was the
\nright time to rest.<\/p>\n

With starting center Kwame Brown<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> dealing with a family emergency and backup
\nJoel Przybilla<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> sidelined with knee pain, the Bobcats had no centers against the
\nBucks. They then lost starting point guard D.J. Augustin<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (sprained left ankle,
\nbruised right knee) and backup Shaun Livingston<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (bruised tailbone) early in the
\nfourth quarter and fell behind by nine points.<\/p>\n

All they did was hold the Bucks scoreless over the final 3:52. Gerald
\nHenderson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> barely used under former coach Larry Brown before being thrust into
\nthe starting lineup when Gerald Wallace<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> was traded to Portland, scored the
\ngame\u2019s final seven points in an 87-86 victory.<\/p>\n

Boris Diaw<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who may have to play some point guard Wednesday against
\nCleveland if Augustin and Livingston are out, played center in the fourth
\nquarter against Milwaukee. Stephen Jackson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who said his left hamstring strain
\nis \u201cgetting better,\u201d had to play power forward and avoided a
\nsuspension-inducing 16th technical foul of the season.<\/p>\n

Dante Cunningham<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> a bit player in Portland before being acquired in the
\nWallace deal, played in crunch time. Garrett Temple<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who was in the NBA
\nDevelopment League earlier this month, played the final 10 minutes at point
\nguard and hit a big 3-pointer.<\/p>\n

Temple, who had been on a second 10-day contract, was signed for the
\nremainder of the season just before the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it was a good move because we needed a third point guard,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

The win kept the Bobcats a game behind eighth-place Indiana in the East and
\nmoved them two ahead of 10th place Milwaukee. The resurgence came after an
\nembarrassing 23-point home loss to the Pacers last week left many thinking owner
\nMichael Jordan\u2019s team was out of the postseason equation.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it took a lot of wind out of our sails,\u201d Henderson
\nacknowledged.<\/p>\n

But two nights later, Charlotte staged a stirring comeback with Jackson
\nsidelined to become the first East team to win at Boston. A victory over New
\nYork followed a day later before another improbable comeback against the Bucks
\nmakes the playoffs possible again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen crazier things happen,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

The volatile Jackson sure has in his well documented career. But Jackson has
\nalso effectively led this team after the Wallace trade stunned the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on five NBA teams and I think this is the most close-knit
\ngroup,\u201d Temple said. \u201cWe have team barbecues. Everybody jokes around with each
\nother. We\u2019re laughing in the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go into battle you want people that you\u2019re close with and that
\nyou know have your back. And we\u2019re going through a battle right now trying to
\nget this eighth playoff spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bobcats have nine games left and the Pacers seven. Indiana holds the
\ntiebreaker, so the Bobcats need to make up two games and get healthy quick.
\nAugustin is hoping to play Wednesday and Kwame Brown is expected back.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think,\u201d Silas said, \u201cwe have a pretty good shot of doing this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

View article:
\nBobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nBobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Bobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"CHARLOTTE, N.C.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/8ef0cee3i.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Bobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-29T18:56:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/\"},\"wordCount\":766,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/8ef0cee3i.gif\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/29\/bobcats-find-way-to-stay-in-playoff-race-ap\/\",\"name\":\"Bobcats find way to stay in playoff race (AP) - 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