The Charlotte Bobcats Beat Down the Los Angeles Lakers....Again

It's official: If the Charlotte Bobcats only played the Los Angeles Lakers this year they'd be undefeated. In another overtime game - and this before the movie stars at the Staples Center - the Bobcats laid one on Portland's nemesis from the south. It was great.

I decided that I had complained so much about the Blazers not picking Adam Morrison, that I should buy the NBA sports package and follow the Bobcats. It is turning into a really good idea. I don't expect them to win much but I love their youthful exuberance and mental toughness. Plus every now and then, they turn in a surprising shining victory including one against Detroit. This is a team you can root for.

They've got some of the better players from college ball over the last few years - May and Felton from the championship North Carolina squad, and Okafor from U.Conn. Their best player is Gerald Wallace - a true force. Watching them run circles around the Lakers big men tonight was truly a blast.

Adam Morrison had an okay game statistically (13 points), but he was in the mix. He's still finding his way but I can see the progress from a month ago. For a rookie, I'd rate his passing as an A minus, and his straight ahead speed as a B plus. The shooting gets an A plus when he is on, and an F when he's not. His lateral movement on defense is a D, but he's starting to do more. He's starting to act like he belongs. His court presence is a B plus - maybe even an A.

The quality I saw in him in college was mental toughness. He's suffered through some embarrassing streaks so far in the NBA, and he's still calling for the ball when he gets open. He is probably going to be a good NBA player. By the way, he was in the line-up for the last part of regulation and all of the overtime. So he's getting respect.

Today was also the first Blazers ticket I've bought in several years. I bought one for the Bobcats visit on March 1st. See, I told you Adam Morrison was going to help sell Blazer tickets.

Buying the ticket turned into quite a process. The tickets are no longer handled by Fred's so they sent me to Safeways. I dropped by but the Safeways ticket person said I'd have to go to the Rose Garden. Apparently for the past day and half their computers have been unable to print out a Blazer ticket. It's a damn shame that Paul Allen doesn't know anyone in the computer business.

Oh well. The Lakers were vanquished tonight. The Bobcats have swept them for the year. Phil Jackson started the game all cool and smiling. Before it was over he looked like a man who was about to be sick.