By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Senior Writer
January 10, 2011
In the
opinion of at least one Charlotte Bobcats player, bringing in Paul
Silas and his up-tempo offensive system was exactly what was needed to
inject some life into the once-disgruntled club.
The Bobcats look
to continue their success under the interim coach while trying for a
fourth straight home win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
Charlotte (13-21) averaged 91.8 points while going 9-19 under Larry Brown as players continued to resist his slowdown system.
"It's
kind of like losing a team. Nobody wanted to play no more," opinionated
leading scorer Stephen Jackson said. "Everybody wanted to play a
different style than we were playing. We didn't agree with what was
going on. Obviously, it wasn't working, so we needed a change."
With Silas, the Bobcats have averaged 99.2 points while winning four of six.
"You
can't blame Coach Brown because we have to play the games," said
Jackson, who is averaging 25.2 points under Silas after scoring 17.3 per
game while Brown was coach. "But at the end of the day, when you make a
change like that it has the domino effect of getting everybody up and
loving the game. It's definitely worked so far."
Jackson had 21
points with 10 rebounds, D.J. Augustin scored 20 with nine assists and
Gerald Henderson added 19 points with nine rebounds in Saturday's 104-89
win over Washington.
Augustin is averaging 19.8 points with Silas at the helm - nearly six more than his season average.
Henderson,
a second-year guard who never cracked Brown's rotation and missed 14
games with a sore knee, is getting a chance while Gerald Wallace has
missed eight of the last 10 games with an ankle injury.
"We're
younger and we have to play a little faster," Jackson said. "The makeup
of the team is different and I think now with Paul as coach the young
guys have more confidence to go out there and play basketball."
With
Wallace and starting center Nazr Mohammed (bruised knee) each expected
to miss a fourth straight game, the Bobcats will try to avenge a 113-80
loss at Memphis in one of Brown's last games Dec. 15.
Jackson had 16 points as the Bobcats shot 41.2 percent and committed 20 turnovers.
Memphis
(17-20) shot 52.4 percent in that contest to snap a four-game overall
skid against the Bobcats. The Grizzlies have shot 42.3 percent and
averaged 86.7 points while losing three in a row in Charlotte.
Zach
Randolph, who had 19 points and nine rebounds against the Bobcats last
month, is averaging 27.8 points and 14.0 boards over his last six games.
The veteran forward had 27 and 16 in a 109-100 loss at Oklahoma City on
Saturday.
"Zach Randolph is a monster down there," Thunder star
Kevin Durant said. "He's an All-Star, so you know he's going to make
tough shots."
While Randolph made 12 of 21 field-goal attempts,
the rest of the Grizzlies shot 38.9 percent, including 1 of 15 from
3-point range.
"You can correct stuff like that," guard Mike
Conley told the Grizzlies' official website. "We will watch some film
and correct some of those things. We will be ready for our next game."
Memphis'
Rudy Gay has averaged 25.5 points on 56.5 percent shooting in his last
four games. He scored 23 against the Bobcats in December.
