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By Matt Rochinski
bobcats.com
October 18, 2007
Boxscore | Play-By-Play | Recaps
With thousands of screaming kids packed into Charlotte Bobcats Arena for the Cool School Field Trip on Thursday, Jason Richardson couldn’t help but feel right at home.
That’s because Richardson recently had an addition to his family, when his son, Jack, was born late Monday afternoon.
“I’m used to the noise,” Richardson laughed. “It was pretty cool with all the kids out there. They were probably happy they had the day off from school. It was pretty fun."
The Bobcats Cool School field trip and Read to Achieve Celebration are geared to promote literacy, academic achievement and citizenship. Students qualify to attend this special game through strong academic performance, commendable character and service through the first month of the school year. Teachers and administrators from the participating schools select their students based on the criteria established for the event.
More than 15,000 students from over 74 public and private middle and elementary schools in North and South Carolina have participated in the past. Throughout the game, students participated in interactive activities including curriculum-based character development sessions with a focus on literacy, problem solving events and teacher recognition. Students also received a bag, educational workbook and lunch.
While the Bobcats would more than likely have liked to put on a winning performance in front of the fans, few kids left the arena without smiles on their faces despite the 104-98 loss to the Hawks.
Credit that in large part to the performances of Gerald Wallace and Richardson.
Wallace continued his string of impressive play in the preseason, scoring a game-high 34 points to go with 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. He also threw down a couple of monster dunks that brought the kids to their feet on more than one occasion.
“Whether it is on an NBA court or on a street ball court, he is the kind of guy that you want on your team,” Bobcats Head Coach Sam Vincent said. “He plays with his heart, he plays all-out and I just love the way he plays, he really plays hard all the time.”
Unlike Wallace, Richardson took a little bit more time to get things going. After missing Charlotte’s last two preseason games, he struggled in the first half, missing on all three of his shots from the field and not appearing anywhere else on the score sheet.
"I've got to get back used to (playing),” he said. “I had pretty much three days off because we had the day off on Sunday, so the first half I was out there looking like a chicken with his head cut off. In the second half, I got my rhythm on offense, but I've still got a lot of work to do."
Richardson impressed in the final 24 minutes of play, scoring 17 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, including 1-2 from long range. He also hauled down one rebound and dished out two assists.
"It was a great atmosphere... It was good to see the excitement from the kids and to get that kind of thrill in the arena."
-- Head Coach Sam Vincent
“Jason bounced back in the second half,” Vincent said. “Jason is a proud new father, so he’s got some noise around his home. He may be up late at night a little bit, so we have to give him a little time to make the adjustment to a new family member. He’s helping out around the home more, and obviously he has to get re-focused to what’s going on around the court. But any time there’s a new addition to the family, of course it’s going to pull your attention for a little bit. He struggled in the first half and got it going some in the second half. He’s a proven NBA scorer and we expect him to be able to give us what we’re looking for.”
Even more importantly, as Richardson got things going in the second half, he also freed up Wallace to continue to create offensively.
“It’s important to get him out there,” Wallace said. “I talked to him and he said his legs didn’t feel the way he thought they would feel, but you saw how he played out there in the third and fourth quarters. He started to get his legs back and started to get into rhythm, and once he gets back into game shape, he’ll help us a lot and give us that other dimension that we need.”
As the Bobcats have often said throughout this preseason, the wins and losses aren’t what matters most. With Richardson back in the lineup on Thursday, Charlotte took another step towards getting closer to where they want to be come the November 2 season opener against Milwaukee.
“I think we have to find that consistency, where we’re working as one team,” Wallace said. “With Jason back, we’re closer to that. I think it’s going to be really hard for teams to guard us, because we’ve got two big threats out there on the wings. He opens up some space for me and hopefully I open up some space for him. Teams can’t just concentrate on one person – then you put Raymond (Felton) and Emeka (Okafor) in the mix and we’ll be a pretty dynamic team.”
NOTES: Point guard Raymond Felton was the only other Bobcats player to finish in double-digit scoring. He added 13 points, five assists and three rebounds in 22 minutes… Primoz Brezec is expected to make his first appearance of the preseason this weekend in Los Angeles... This Al Horford guy could surprise some people and make a run at Rookie of the Year. He looked impressive in 34 minutes off the bench, finishing with a team-high 22 points and 12 rebounds.
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