Expansion basketball is seldom pretty and rarely successful, even by the most modest of standards. But it is usually not quite this physically painful.

As the Bobcats wind their way through the final games of their third NBA regular season, they are limping along, experiencing once again an unusual string of injuries that has made their already-demanding assignment just that much tougher.

Injuries are part of the game in each of the league’s 30 cities, of course. But Charlotte’s laundry list has for a second straight season riddled the roster and forced key players into extended absences.

The Bobcats are resilient, above all else, and have fared reasonably well under the circumstances. They won 26 games last season, eight more than in their debut season the year before. They have a franchise-best 27 victories entering tonight’s game against Milwaukee, the first of 10 remaining games this season, and through constant mixing and matching of available players have been finding ways to survive.

Bernie Bickerstaff, 62, was no Johnny-come-lately to the league and its pitfalls when he came on board as Charlotte’s start-up head coach and general manager. He has spent almost all of his adult life around the NBA in one capacity or another, experiencing the highs and lows from the bench and the front office.

While he had no delusions about what he was signing up for, the injuries, ailments and Eastern Conference playoff race have him and the Bobcats thinking about what might have been.

“You know what’s sad, and we talked about it today, is the fact that the eighth (and final) playoff position there is 30 (victories),” Bickerstaff said last weekend. “And I’m sad because I know if we had our full complement of players, we’d be right there.

“I just can’t get that out of my mind. None of the guys can.”

The magic number of wins necessary to make the playoffs entering Thursday’s games was 33, and it will obviously go up during the season’s closing weeks. The Bobcats still have a shot at reaching 31, the highest number posted by any of the last eight NBA expansion teams (Orlando in 1990-91 and 1991-92).

Their stretch run got a boost from the return of star forward Emeka Okafor on Wednesday with nine points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench against the Hawks. Okafor was averaging 14.9 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots when he went out with a left calf strain on February 24. At the time the Bobcats were playing above-.500 basketball, winning 13 of 24 games, and were building momentum.

The team went into a temporary tailspin, missing the big man and his interior defense, and lost its next seven games. Bickerstaff’s lineup juggling, Gerald Wallace’s relentless play inside and the players’ resolve has since put the Bobcats back on an even keel with a 5-4 record in the past nine games.

Charlotte’s resiliency came at a price, however. Wallace’s body began cramping all over following a Friday game at Philadelphia. Raymond Felton suffered a thigh bruise.

The two had been instrumental in the Bobcats push-on play recently with what Bickerstaff called a “small ball” lineup of 6-7 Wallace and four shorter players. But Wallace and Felton had to skip Saturday’s game, forcing Charlotte to go with a first-time-ever starting lineup of Brevin Knight, Matt Carroll, Jake Voskuhl, Adam Morrison and Walter Herrmann.

“So our small ball with Gerald at (center) goes to mini-ball,” said Bickerstaff, proving he still has his sense of humor. “We’re going to make sure the guys get two days off (Sunday and Monday). The bodies have to recover. They just really need the time off.”

And they did, but it appears there is no easy cure for Charlotte’s repeated strings of injuries other than good fortune. If the key players, for example, can avoid major injuries in the future, the teammates who must go out of position and/or play more minutes can avoid the fatigue that has often made them more susceptible to injuries of their own.

“Fatigue is a factor and rest is a big thing, too,” said Carroll, one of only five players on the roster to play in 60 or more of the Bobcats 72 games to this stage. “Because when you’re tired out there it’s tough. That’s when guys usually get hurt because you’re not moving at full speed, you’re a little bit slow or you might hit a guy at the wrong time.”

“Part of it too is the luck of the draw. You see a lot of guys who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time and if you come down on someone’s foot and get hurt, you can’t help that. I think for me, I’m fortunate I haven’t had any serious injuries. I’ve always worked hard lifting weights and doing things like proper stretching to keep myself on the court. So maybe I avoid some of the nagging injuries that might affect somebody else by what I’ve done off the court.”

Voskuhl agreed with Carroll that some of it is out of a player’s control.

“Absolutely some of it is luck,” he said. “I think that whether a guy has played 60 games or not, or even half that, there’s still fatigue during the season because you still travel and just mentally you can get work down.

“I find that when I have focused, praying about staying healthy, that’s been all the difference. I have the scriptures that you read about healing and stuff like that. I read those on a daily basis. That’s the biggest new thing I’ve been doing and I’ve noticed a huge difference because last season I was hurt all year and (this season) I haven’t been hurt.”

Trainer Joe Sharpe traces injuries to a combination of things.

“There’s a lot of luck involved,” he said. “Guys who take care of their bodies, get weight training, get proper rest and eat good food for their nutrition go a little longer. You may still get a little thing here and there, but those things you can’t control.

“We talk about it with all the players. Some guys are better than others and we encourage the guys who are better to encourage all the (other) ones who are not directly involved in weight training or a food program. Usually it’s the veteran who has been in the league for many years who knows how to get proper rest and eat properly and take care of his body.”

Such improved routines will help. Playing the odds could do wonders. After all, is any team more due for a relatively injury-free season?

In the meantime the Bobcats push on. And Bickerstaff makes sure their heads are still held high.

“My conversation with the guys at shoot-around (Saturday) was simple,” Bickerstaff said. “I asked them to look around at each other. Every guy is here for a purpose. They’ve all been winners and that’s why they continue to fight. They are where they are right now because of the circumstances that we’re in.

“I just want each of them to understand that they’re still winners. They’ve always won. And that’s why we selected them.”

Leonard Laye covered the NBA, ABA and college basketball for more than three decades for the Charlotte Observer and the old Charlotte News until his retirement from writing sports fulltime. He will write a regular column throughout the season for BobcatsBasketball.com for his second straight year.