By Matt Rochinski
bobcats.com
March 14, 2008
Boxscore | Play-By-Play | Highlights | Recaps

The Charlotte Bobcats were fully aware of the task in front of them as they took on the Houston Rockets Friday at the Toyota Center – put an end to a piece of NBA history by stopping the Rockets 20-game winning streak.
While many prognosticators seemed to be overlooking the Bobcats on Houston’s schedule, Charlotte wasn’t about to make this one easy for the Rockets.
The Bobcats gave Houston everything they had in an attempt to prevent the streak from extending to the second longest in NBA history at 21 games – surpassing the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks – before falling 89-80 in a hostile environment.
Led by 28 points from Jason Richardson, 23 from Emeka Okafor and 16 more off the bench from Gerald Wallace in just his second game back since suffering a Grade 3 concussion on February 22 against Sacramento, the Bobcats quickly got the Rockets attention in this one.
After falling behind 17-8 early in the contest, Charlotte rattled off a 15-1 run to close the first quarter and take a 23-18 lead. The Bobcats opened the lead to 29-18 after scoring the first six points of the second frame and took a 43-36 lead into the break.
Unfortunately, Charlotte’s strong first half seemed to stimulate the hottest team in recent NBA history coming out of the locker rooms at the break. Sparked by Tracy McGrady’s eight third-quarter points, Houston took it to the Bobcats in the stanza, tallying the first six points and outscoring Charlotte 28-12 to take a 64-55 lead with 2:30 left in the third.
Charlotte rallied to score the last seven points and trailed 64-62 heading into the final 12 minutes of play, but the Rockets relentless offense kept the pressure on, scoring eight consecutive points to push the lead back to double digits, 72-62. The lead continued to build from there following Mike Harris’ three-point play that gave Houston its biggest lead, 85-71, with 4:11 remaining.
Still, the Bobcats refused to go away, slicing the lead to 86-80 on an Okafor putback with 1:08 remaining. The win was not secured until veteran Dikembe Mutombo blocked Okafor on consecutive possessions inside the final minute.
"I really liked our fight tonight,” said Bobcats Head Coach Sam Vincent. “We did some real good stuff and if we can keep fighting like that, bottle that up and we can win some games. Our effort was real good."

When you can put together a 21-1 run against a team that has won 21-consecutive games, there is no question you’re doing something right.
The Bobcats played nearly flawless basketball over an 8:24 stretch between the first and second quarters, turning a 17-8 deficit into an 11-point lead on the road.
Richardson was the key to that stretch, scoring 13 of Charlotte’s 21 points from all over the court – from beyond the arc, on drives through the lane and at the free throw line.
"We were determined to come in here and try and end the streak,” said Richardson. ”We thought we might be able to sneak up but they are a very aggressive team and they picked up in the second half. I think in the second half they took us seriously and then Tracy (McGrady) took over the game. When you win 21 games in a row, it's not about one person, it's about an entire team.”
But that’s not to say the Bobcats only played eight-and-a-half minutes of solid basketball. Over that stretch, there was no question they were the better team on the court, and they were solid throughout in this one, fighting back numerous times when it looked as if Houston was on its way to putting this one away.
They recovered after going down 64-55 with 2:30 left in the third to head into the fourth trailing by two, 64-62.
They fought off a 13-2 Rockets run to start the final quarter and cut the lead to 77-71 on Matt Carroll’s spinning drive through the lane.
They were unshaken when Houston took a 14-point lead in the final minutes and again cut it to six, quieting the early celebration at the Toyota Center.
They just didn’t have enough in the end to stop a rolling juggernaut.

The 33-20 lead the Bobcats built after Jared Dudley’s jumper at 7:02 of second quarter marked the largest deficit the Rockets have faced over the course of the 21-game winning streak. And while Houston cut it to 43-36 at the break, Charlotte could have maintained control of this one if they would have been able to slow the Rockets coming out of the locker room.
After holding Houston to 34.1 percent shooting from the field (15-of-44) in the first half, the Bobcats struggled to contain the Rockets in the third. Behind nine points from Luis Scola and eight from McGrady, Houston connected on 63.2 percent (12-of-19) of its shots in the first nine minutes of the third.
Meanwhile, the Bobcats went cold after hitting on 47.4 percent (18-of-38) from the field in the first half. Over that same stretch where the Rockets were heating up, Charlotte cooled off considerably, knocking down 35.7 percent (5-of-14) of its shots as they were outscored 26-11.
The Bobcats fought valiantly from that point, but weren’t able to pull it out.

Jason Richardson continues to light things up for the Bobcats. He finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists, marking the eighth time in 11 games he has scored 25 points or more.

Tracy McGrady continues to carry the Rockets throughout the streak with Yao Ming sidelined for the season. T-Mac scored a game-high 30 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.
J-Rich had another solid fantasy outing for Charlotte, and Emeka Okafor put up strong fantasy stats with 23 points, nine rebounds and one block.

It was a tale of two halves on the scoreboard.
Charlotte held the league’s hottest team to 18 points in both the first and second quarters, while scoring 23 in the first and 20 in the second to build the seven-point halftime lead.
The Rockets buckled down defensively in the second half, holding the Bobcats to 19 points in the third and 18 in the fourth, while scoring 28 and 25 in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

“This was a game where (Charlotte) really tested our will,” Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said. “This was a great test for us to see how mentally strong we really are. They (Charlotte) brought their ‘A’ game, they played well… That team (Charlotte) fought hard and even when we led by like 13, they would cut it to eight."

BOBCATS: Sean May (right knee surgery), Adam Morrison (torn left ACL)
ROCKETS: Steve Francis (torn quadricep tendon, right knee), Carl Landry (sore right knee), Yao Ming (stress fracutre, left foot)

Sunday, March 16 - Bobcats at Cleveland Cavaliers - 6:00 p.m.
TV - WMYT MyTV 12; Radio - WOLS OLDIES 106.1 FM