Charlotte Bobcats power forward Josh McRoberts grabs on to his Raptors counterpart Amir Johnson during the first half in Charlotte last night. The Raps rallied late but fell short in the end. (REUTERS)
CHARLOTTE - Knowing very well this is the time of year when focus can be extremely elusive for players, Dwane Casey made a pre-emptive attempt to avoid this particular pitfall.
“We gotta play like we’re playing for something,” the coach said at the morning shootaround, repeating the message he delivered to his players a little earlier.
For about the first five minutes of the first quarter Wednesday night it appeared those words had the desired effect.
But for the next 43, or at least most of them anyway, it was like they had never been spoken as the Bobcats overcame the early deficit and then held on down the final few minutes for a 107-101 win.
The dagger was a 31-point second quarter by the Bobcats who were life and death to make a basket in the first six minutes of the game but somehow finished the night shooting a very respectable 47%.
