A few quick thoughts from the 98-94 win over Charlotte:
- The Bobcats play a brand of basketball that isn’t pretty, but tonight was a particularly ugly affair. Bodies were flying everywhere, loose ball battles were vicious, and hardly any drives to the rim resulted in clean looks. This was a junkyard battle, and the fact that the Clippers out-nastied one of the nastiest teams in the league is impressive. The Clippers won the battle on the offensive boards (15-10) and posted a +14 overall rebounding margin. The loose ball hustle and the work on the boards were huge tonight.
- Baron Davis returned from his lower back injury tonight and played pretty well. Baron’s eight shot attempts were tied for the lowest amount of field goal attempts he’s had in 14 games. The moderation on Baron’s attempts were important, but his real contribution came on the defensive end. Baron and Gordon held Raymond Felton, D.J. Augustin and Stephen Jackson to a combined 5 for 32 shooting performance. Baron himself filled out the stat line well, blocking three shots, grabbing five boards, and collecting two steals. Baron has always been a good distributor on the offensive end, but when he truly brings it on the defensive end he’s a much more effective player.
