When the Charlotte Bobcats locker room opened to the media
Friday, the player with the most incentive to hide was in fact the
only one waiting to be interviewed. Stephen Jackson is nothing if
not accountable.
”
I took a terrible shot at the end of the game,
”
Jackson said, after his 29-foot jumper missed in a 96-95 home
loss to the Golden State Warriors.
”
It’s my fault…they rely on me.
”
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
When the Charlotte Bobcats locker room opened to the media Friday, the player with the most incentive to hide was in fact the only one waiting to be interviewed.
Stephen Jackson is nothing if not accountable.
“I took a terrible shot at the end of the game,” Jackson said, after his 29-foot jumper missed in a 96-95 home loss to the Golden State Warriors. “It’s my fault…they rely on me.”
Certainly Jackson’s judgment was poor; he had over eight seconds available to create something more viable. But it was also more complicated than that. According to coach Paul Silas, the other players didn’t run the play properly, failing to create spacing that would have made the Warriors defend the whole floor.
Jackson said they hoped to set up a quick pick-and-roll for point guard D.J. Augustin. When that didn’t materialize, Jackson improvised, and improvised poorly.
“I didn’t see any lanes” to drive, Jackson said. “They took us out of our play.”
That wasted some exceptional late-game defense, particularly by shooting guard Gerald Henderson. First, Henderson blocked Warriors star Monta Ellis from behind, averting what would have been a sure layup. Then Henderson so effectively bodied-up Ellis on an in-bounds play that Ellis blatantly pushed off with his left forearm.
That resulted in an offensive foul and what should have been a game-changing change-of-possession with 8.5 seconds left.
“They were trying to iso(late) me every time,” Henderson said of the Warriors depending on Ellis (25 points) to break him down late. “You really just try to stay in front of him because he’s so impressive athletically.”
Between Ellis and Charlottean Stephen Curry (24 points on 10-of-17 shooting), the Warriors scored with exceptional ease much of this game. Golden State shot 49 percent to the Bobcats’ 42 percent. But the Warriors never scored again after Ellis’ layup with 1 minute, 20 seconds left, and that should have allowed the Bobcats to steal this one.
This is what you call a teaching moment, following Silas’ first loss in three games as Larry Brown’s replacement.
“I think he was looking to penetrate, but (the Warriors) were really crowded” around him, Silas said of Jackson’s last shot.
“We called for a specific set, then didn’t get into that set. We need to point it out in practice, so next time they’ll know what to do.”
— Story by Rick Bonnell, The Charlotte Observer
