It's hardly shocking an offensively challenged team, missing its top scorer, might struggle to find great looks down the stretch of a close game.
But that explains away only so much. What the Charlotte Bobcats did in the last nine minutes Wednesday was perplexing: They scored off three of their last 14 possessions, totaling four points in that span, and wasted some awfully good work in a an 89-73 loss to the New Orleans Hornets.
Stephen Jackson, who averages 18.1 points this season, was back in Charlotte serving a one-game suspension for verbal abuse of referees. Clearly, Jackson might have saved a few of those possessions with a post-up or a 3-pointer.
But, to use coach Larry Brown's frequent expression….come up. Six straight empty possessions?
To forward Gerald Wallace (18 points and five rebounds), the Bobcats lost their nerve and their recognition of how the Hornets defended.
"Basically, guys got tight,"
Wallace described. "They jumped into a zone, and we acted like we didn't know what to do about it."
"We played like we were trying to work the clock, instead of playing like we did the first three quarters."
"The fourth quarter was all mental lapses,"
Wallace continued. "We outplayed them for three quarters, and they outplayed us in the quarter that mattered."
The Hornets (13-5) are greatly improved this season. That's partially due to superstar point guard Chris Paul being healthy again and partially the defensive improvement new coach Monty Williams has instilled.
The Hornets held the Bobcats to 11 points and 31 percent shooting in that final quarter. Wallace scored five points that final period, his six teammates a combined six.
"They've got a couple of closers,"
Brown said, referring to Paul (nine points and 14 rebounds) and David West (22 points off 9-of-15 shooting). It was telling that Paul's assist total was just one short of the entire Bobcats team.
The Bobcats were certainly in it, down 71-69 with nine minutes left on Kwame Brown's jump shot. And then…
"They just clogged the middle,"
said Bobcats point guard D.J. Augustin. "They wouldn't let us penetrate-and-kick."
Or as Brown described, "We didn't handle the zone, we didn't (immediately) understand they were in zone…"
"That's why we're 6-12."
