On the night Bobcats coach Paul Silas publicly questioned Byron Mullens' toughness, the 7-footer looked tough, indeed.
Before a 102-95 loss to the Celtics, Silas said he saw Mullens' future at power forward because Mullens simply isn't physical enough for the center spot. As Silas put it, "I just don't know if you can make a tough guy out of somebody who is not."
It's unclear whether that quote got back to Mullens, but he was as aggressive -- offensively, but physically, too -- as he's been in a long time. The bench brought the Bobcats back from an 18-point first-quarter deficit, and Mullens was a major factor, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the second quarter.
Mullens hit a three-pointer and an alley-oop dunk over Celtics star Kevin Garnett, who traded trash talk and a mild shove with Mullens in that period. The Bobcats outscored the Celtics 35-19 in that quarter, closing the gap to two.
Mullens took satisfaction in making this game competitive, because the reserves have been blowing leads of late.
"The past few games we've lost have kind of been the second unit's fault," Mullens said. "(Monday) we buckled down hard."
