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An hour-and-a-half before tipoff, Bernie Bickerstaff was surprised at how he felt.

“I’m kind of angry at myself because I’ve got more butterflies than I’ve had in a while,” said Bickerstaff as he prepared for his last game in three years as head coach of the Bobcats. “So I guess I’ve been masking something.”

However, nobody in Charlotte Bobcats Arena was hiding the way they felt on Wednesday, as the Bobcats gave everything they had to try and pull out a win for their coach, their fans and themselves in the 2006-07 season finale against the Knicks on Fan Appreciation Night.

Unfortunately, much like David Lee’s double-overtime tip-in with 0.2 seconds left on December 20 at Madison Square Garden gave New York the victory, the Knicks were able to come away with another buzzer-beating win 94-93 to stun Charlotte.

Raymond Felton put the Bobcats (33-49) in position to win their 34th game of the season when he drove the length of the court and converted a lay-up after being fouled by Mardy Collins with 9.9 seconds remaining to tie the score 92-92. He then stepped to the line and drained the and-one, giving the Bobcats the one-point cushion.

But this time it was Eddy Curry’s turn to be New York’s hero, as he was there to put back Malik Rose’s missed layup with 0.6 seconds remaining to give the Knicks the win.

“It was all about Coach Bernie tonight. It was all about him,” said Felton after scoring 19 points. “We tried to win this game for, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out for him because Eddy Curry had a great tip-in.”

As he has often said in his three years at the helm in Charlotte, Bickerstaff could not be disappointed at the effort his squad put forth.

"I love those kids in (the Bobcats locker room). I'm really, really proud of those guys, and there is nowhere to go but up."
-- Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff

“The guys did everything they could to try and win it,” Bickerstaff, who finishes his coaching career with 415 victories, said. “The team laid it on the line and tried to get it done… tonight, they had no reason to, but they still competed. With things going the way they were on the court, they still didn’t surrender. They just kept playing. I’m really proud of these guys.”

Gerald Wallace was testament to Bickerstaff’s words.

After missing the last two contests with aching knees from a season of sacrificing himself every time he stepped on the court, Wallace wasn’t expected to play against New York, but he went to Bickerstaff before the game and told he we wanted to play.

“It was Fan Appreciation Night,” said Wallace, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes off the bench. “The fans are the ones that pay my check, so I didn’t want to sit out. I’m sore, but I’ve been sorer than this. I felt like I owed it to the fans and Bernie to come out and play.”

Charlotte jumped out to an early 11-9 lead but quickly found itself trailing 19-11 after a 10-0 Knicks run and finished the opening quarter trailing 24-17. No Bobcats player scored more than four points (Brevin Knight) in the opening frame, but the team found its offensive stroke in the second quarter.

Keyed by eight points from rookie Walter Herrmann, who finished with a team-high 22 points, Charlotte ripped off 16-straight points after Nate Robinson opened the stanza with a 19-foot jumper and Jared Jeffries converted a layup on the Knicks ensuing possession. The Bobcats held New York without a field goal over the next 4:56 as they turned an 11-point deficit into a five-point lead, and took a 40-38 lead at the break.

Charlotte built the lead to as many as nine points in the third quarter, thanks in large part to Raymond Felton’s six points, but the Knicks refused to fold, getting the ball inside to Curry. New York’s big man was effective, scoring eight points in the frame with Emeka Okafor sidelined with four fouls, and helped the Knicks cut the lead to 65-58 heading into the last 12 minutes of play.

Curry picked up where he left off in the fourth and was able to draw Okafor’s sixth foul by the 6:25 mark, allowing Curry free reign in the paint. He finished with 12 points, including the game winner.

Wallace’s 10 points in the fourth weren’t enough to counter Curry, as Robinson came off the bench to add 10 points of his own and give the Knicks a solid one-two punch.

With their big men either hurting or in foul trouble, New York dominated the boards, outrebounding Charlotte 53-29.

But this one wasn’t as much about the final score as it was about the celebration of the best season in the franchise’s brief history, the support of its fans and the legacy of its first head coach.

“I’m nostalgic about the 40 years I’ve been in basketball,” Bickerstaff said after the game. “People in life take things for granted. I’ve never taken anything for granted, so I reflect on how good things have been.

“If you keep it in perspective, you have been doing something all your live that you love, so it doesn’t matter. The good, the bad and the ugly – it’s all good. In every position there is some good, bad and ugly, so you might as well take it doing something you love. Life has been terrific – I love basketball.”