CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Al Jefferson
was back -- as was head coach Steve Clifford -- but neither was enough
to offset a miserable third quarter that allowed the Atlanta Hawks (4-3)
to pull above .500 with a 103-94 win. Here are four observations from
the Bobcats' home
loss:
1.
Flashes shown in Jefferson's return from a nagging ankle
injury
The
Bobcats had finally cut the deficit to six with just under three
minutes left in the game when Jefferson caught the ball on the block. He
made a decisive move left, pump faked and got his man in the air,
ducked under and attempted to kiss a six-foot leaner off the glass. The
shot rimmed out, Jefferson whiffed on the rebound, and the Hawks turned
the shot into a five on four break and a trip to the foul line before
Jefferson could get back to the paint to help at the
rim. That
sequence perfectly encapsulated Jefferson's night. There were flashes of
the nimble footwork that makes him one of the elite of a dying breed --
a post scorer. We saw peaks of the attention from defenses that his
interior scoring brings. We even saw him drop two dimes to cutting
teammates when the double came, showing glimpses of what the Bobcats
envisioned when they signed
him. But it's
just not there yet. That's what essentially a month off does. His skill
set was still there but it was rusty and he was way out of shape, which
is even more exacerbated for a player like Jefferson whose defense was a
lightning rod for criticism at times in his previous
stops. "He's just
trying to find his rhythm. More than anything he showed how competitive
he is," Clifford said. "He's out there and he's obviously not in great
shape. He played more minutes than I thought he would simply because we
played better when he was on the
floor." Clifford
said the struggle more than anything with integrating him back into the
lineup was trying to get him the ball. Because post scorers are so rare
these days, the Bobcats repeatedly struggled to feed him
inside. "We had
some trouble at times because were staring him down. That's not a good
thing to do," Clifford said. "The ball's gotta move quickly. You gotta
be able to give him a look, move the ball to the other side, give him a
look. That's part of obviously the build up of post up play that we
haven't been able to work on. That'll take some
time." Jefferson
(10 points and 7 rebounds on 5-of-11 shooting) went scoreless in the
first half and said he spent the first half trying to feel himself
around. And although he was surprised with how much playing time he got
in the second half, he said the additional reps are key to
working him back into the
offense. "We just
need more reps," Jefferson said. "It's kinda unfair to the team with me
being out, coming in for one game and then out and then back. But we
got to find a way to do it. We all gotta find a way to get on the same
page and I think once we do that, we'll be
OK." Added Josh
McRoberts, who had a season high 19 points: "There's probably guys that
have never played with a post scorer ever in their whole career -- high
school, college, NBA. So it's definitely a change when you
have one of the best post players in the world down there on the block,
you got to be able to adjust and use him and play through
him." That will
get better with time. So will Jefferson's
conditioning.
2.
Jeff Teague shredded the improved Bobcats
defense
The
Bobcats have been much improved this year on defense, ranking seventh
in the league in scoring defense heading into Monday's game, but that
defense abandoned them in the third
quarter. Jeff
Teague did whatever he wanted on the floor in the second half – and in
the third quarter in particular. Teague had 14 points and 12 assists on
the night, but nine points and nine assists came in the second half. The
Bobcats entered halftime with a 54-46 lead but were beaten 34-16 in the
third. And that largely was on Teague, who used a two-man game with Al
Horford (24 points on 9-of-15 shooting) to decimate the Charlotte
defense. "We
played a solid first half and came out in the third quarter with
absolutely nothing -- disorganized at both ends of the floor. That was
obviously the difference in the game. Three out of the four quarters we
played well," Clifford said. "Horford had a terrific game but Jeff
Teague controlled that game from about the last four minutes of the
second quarter all the way through the second half. We couldn't keep him
out of the paint, we couldn't control him in the pick and rolls, and
the majority of their shots came directly from
him." When
Teague's clicking like that with the ball in his hands, the Hawks are a
handful to guard. Horford can burn you with the pick and pop or off the
roll -- same goes for Paul Millsap -- and they've got perhaps the best
shooter in the league in Kyle Korver to burn you on the wings when
Teague penetrates. The Bobcats had nothing for that recipe with 16 of
Horford's 24 coming in the
second. "When Al
and Paul are playing well, we play well," Teague said. "I'm always
trying to get those guys
going." He
definitely got them going and it absolutely buried the Bobcats. Teams
with tremendous offensive firepower might be able to withstand a poor
quarter -- but the Bobcats aren't one of those teams. They struggle in
the halfcourt sets and aren't a great three-point shooting team that can
pour it on you quickly. They have to work for points and giving up 34
in the third's not going to cut it very often in this league for them.
They did make a mini run to get it to five in the fourth and got three
straight stops with a chance to cut it further but couldn't get a
bucket. "You got
to play four quarters in this league. We played a good half to be up 8
then we came out with an entirely different mindset. Lets face it: We've
got a good team, but we can't be taking -- forget quarters
off -- we can't be taking two or three minutes off. We're not going to
overwhelm people, we have to play well for 48
minutes."
3.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist continues to play in
spurts In
the first half, it wasn't even close who the best player on the floor
was. It wasn't Al Horford or Paul Millsap. Not Kemba Walker or Jeff
Teague either. It was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
He
dominated the first half with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with
four rebounds and two assists. Even that funky shooting motion knocked
down an 18 footer and went 4 of 5 from the
line. But then he
disappeared. He only attempted one field goal in the second half and
added two rebounds to his first half total. That's the type of swings in
his game that we saw frequently his rookie year when he looked like the
rookie of the year in stretches and looked passive and lost in
others. "Well,
his energy dropped. His energy dropped," Clifford said. "I think our
whole team's energy
dropped." 4.
Great to see Steve Clifford back on the
sidelines
Head
coach Steve Clifford was back on the sidelines Monday night just five
days after being admitted to the hospital for chest pains. Health issues
with coaches have come into the spotlight increasingly in recent weeks
with NFL coaches John Fox and Gary Kubiak's health scares forcing them
to take time away from their team for the foreseeable future. And
although Clifford was back on the sidelines, he's going to have to cut
it back for a while,
too. "I'm doing
exactly what they tell me to do. I'm going to do a little bit less
during the work day, come in just when the team is here. I'm going to
work out of the house more, sleep in for a couple of weeks, and I think
I'll be good," Clifford
said.
