THE RESULT
After holding the lead during the entire fourth quarter, the Bobcats were clipped on a buzzer-beater from the Knicks J.R. Smith as time expired to give New York the 100-98 victory on December 5 at Time Warner Cable Arena®. The Cats were led by 25 points and 11 assists from Kemba Walker as they tried to hang on to end a five-game slide.
TURNING POINTS
The Bobcats came out slow in the second half, allowing the Knicks to go on a 12-4 run behind six points from former Bobcat Raymond Felton… The Cats countered with a run of their own and tied the game up at 67-67 with 5:51 to go in the third quarter… The Bobcats led for the rest of the third and all of the fourth until Felton tied the game at 98 with less than a minute to play… The Cats committed two turnovers and couldn’t get a shot up in their last two possessions… J.R. Smith iced the game by hitting a fade-away jump shot as time expired.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Cats dominated the Knicks in most categories… Charlotte shot 47.0 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, outrebounded the Knicks 50-36 and had 52 points in the paint compared to the Knicks 40… The Bobcats distributed the ball well again tonight with 23 assists on 39 made baskets… Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeffery Taylor did a nice job defensively on All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who only made one field goal in the second half. He finished with 23 points and three steals…The Bobcats committed 14 turnovers leading to 23 points for New York… The Knicks made 13 3-pointers on 31.7 percent shooting from long range.
BOBCATS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Kemba Walker racked up his first double-double of the season with 25 points and 11 assists. The point guard went 8-for-15 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from 3-point territory, made all seven free-throw attempts and only had one turnover.
BOBCATS TOP RESERVE
Gerald Henderson looked healthy in his second game back. The Bobcats Captain had 18 points, six rebounds and a block in 25 minutes.
KNICKS PLAYER OF THE GAME
In his return to Charlotte, Tyson Chandler scored 18 points and grabbed game-high 17 rebounds. He shot 8-for-10 from the field, dished out two assists and notched a block and a steal.
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM
"I thought we played some pretty good defense and had some decent looks at the basket, but we have to execute better down the stretch and tonight we made some pretty big mistakes late that hurt us."
- Bobcats Guard Kemba Walker on the Cats play down the stretch
"It’s about execution under pressure, that’s what we’re after, but maybe the question is the bounce-back factor which was unbelievable from a really tough overtime game. That story’s been written but the mettle of our team is unbelievable. We could go through each possession and talk about it. We could talk about the who, but I prefer to talk about how we came into this game and the way that we leaned forward and played the game against a really talented team."
- Bobcats Head Coach Mike Dunlap on the game
GAME NOTES
Rookie of the Month, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, scored 10 points to go with three rebounds, two assists and a block… He was limited early in the game due to foul trouble… Bismack Biyombo grabbed a team-high 12 boards, including five offensive rebounds to go with two points in 29 minutes… Ben Gordon continues to have the hot hand for the Bobcats scoring 17 points along with three rebounds and two assists.
NEXT UP
The Bobcats hit the road as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks on December 7 at 8:30 p.m. before they begin a three-game homestand. Catch all of the games on SportSouth or listen on WFNZ. Download the Bobcats app on your smartphone or go to bobcats.com to follow the live in-game chat.
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