Timberwolves vs. Bobcats Preview
The Charlotte Bobcats’ success at home last season helped them earn their first playoff berth in franchise history. This season, the Bobcats are the NBA’s only remaining team without a victory there.
Charlotte will try to end that drought and avoid matching its longest home losing streak in team history by adding to its recent dominance of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
The Bobcats broke their franchise record for home wins in 2009-10 by going 31-10 there en route to a 44-38 finish, good for seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGlobal.com have made the Bobcats -9.5 point spread favorites for Monday’s game against the Timberwolves. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 62% of more than 292 bets for this game have been placed on the Bobcats -9.5.
This season, Charlotte (3-7) is 0-4 there but once again narrowly missed getting that first victory while also being denied a three-game winning streak.
Nazr Mohammed gave the Bobcats a three-point lead with 58 seconds left as part of a 22-point, 20-rebound performance. The Jazz, though, scored the final four points, including Deron Williams’ short jumper with 0.8 to go, in a 96-95 win.
Charlotte has dropped its four home games by a combined 11 points and is on the verge of losing six in a row at home for the first time since Jan. 13-Feb. 1, 2006.
The Bobcats’ current slide at Time Warner Cable Arena began April 14.
“It’s something that we’re going to learn from,” guard D.J. Augustin told the team’s website. “We’ve got to stick together, get better and rally up.”
A matchup with the Timberwolves (3-8) could help the Bobcats begin that rally. Minnesota has lost six of seven in the series, including both of last season’s meetings, and is 1-5 all-time in Charlotte.
The Timberwolves have also dropped 43 of 49 on the road but did win Wednesday night at Sacramento. They followed that with a home victory over New York but could not extend their win streak Sunday in Atlanta.
However there were a couple of positives from that 111-105 defeat, namely the continuing impressive performances from Kevin Love and Michael Beasley.
Love had 22 points and 17 rebounds after registering career highs of 31 points and 31 boards in the win over New York. Beasley, in his first season in Minnesota, is averaging 34.0 points in his last three games and scored a team-best 25 against the Hawks despite being in foul trouble.
Love, pulling down a league-best 14.6 rebounds per game, has averaged 19.7 points and 18.1 boards while recording double-doubles in five of six games.
However, Beasley, Love and guard Sebastian Telfair also combined for 15 of their team’s 21 turnovers Sunday.
“There were so many little things we were doing wrong,” coach Kurt Rambis said. “Guys aren’t consistently doing the right things. … Guys are going to find ways to contribute and we have to continue to get better so we don’t let those little things come back and haunt us.”
Rambis’ club dressed only 10 players Sunday and could be shorthanded again in this game. Center Nikola Pekovic sat out with an sprained left ankle against the Hawks, and guard Wayne Ellington has not played in the past four contests because of a bruised left thigh.
Thanks to its home dominance over Minnesota, Charlotte holds an 8-4 lead in the series.
Check out the latest odds for this game and all 2010 NBA Odds.