Wallace, Bobcats rally past Nets 79-68
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Just when you thought nobody could match the Charlotte Bobcats' offensive ineptitude, the New Jersey Nets one-upped them.
Try more than 10 minutes without a point and nearly 11 1/2 without a field goal. Add in another key injury and another deflating loss and the Nets' season is already in a freefall.
Gerald Wallace had 24 points and a career-high 20 rebounds and the Bobcats - the NBA's lowest-scoring team - overcame their horrible first half by being just a little better with the ball than the winless Nets in their 79-68 victory on Monday night.
"It was embarrassing," guard Rafer Alston said after the Nets fell to 0-4. "Offensively, we have to do it together."
The Nets went 0 for 11 from the field with nine turnovers in Charlotte's 24-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters in the longest scoring drought in the NBA in nearly four years. It turned a once 14-point Nets cushion into a comfortable 63-51 Charlotte lead with 8:38 left.
Yi injured again
To make matters worse, the Nets lost forward Yi Jianlian during the drought when a falling Wallace rolled into his right knee. He'll undergo an MRI on Tuesday (today Beijing time) to determine the damage to the medial collateral ligament while All-Star Devin Harris was in Chicago on Monday getting a second opinion on his strained groin.
Coach Lawrence Frank called the injury a sprain, but said Yi will need an MRI to determine its severity.
Yi was near the basket when Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace fell and rolled into his leg midway through the third quarter. Yi crumpled to the floor and was attended to for a couple of minutes. He eventually got up and put no pressure on his right leg as he left the floor and the team announced he would not return.
"I fell on my knee and kind of twisted it a little bit," said Yi, who had four points and six rebounds before the injury.
It was yet another blow for the Nets (0-4), who played their second straight game without point guard Harris (groin). Keyon Dooling (hip), Tony Battie (knee) and Jarvis Hayes (hamstring) are also sidelined.
Douglas-Roberts rolled his ankle late in the fourth quarter but stayed in the game.
DJ Augustin added 21 points for the Bobcats, who haven't cracked 80 points in three of four games, yet improved to 2-2 in Raja Bell's return from a wrist injury.
"One time I looked up and we were 6 for 38 (from the field) and we were down 11," Bobcats coach Larry Brown said. "I kept telling them if we didn't defend we'd lose by 40."
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