Charlotte Bobcats rookie point guard Kemba Walker stood emotionless in a dejected locker room and gave his side of what happened.
It was a rerun of what has gone down for most of the season. This time it took just two hours and four minutes.
Once again, Walker showed the leadership qualities that made the front office select him No. 9 in last year’s NBA Draft.
But he didn’t hit a game-winning shot. He had an off night. He was 2 of 11 from the field and finished with nine points, five assists and four rebounds.
Instead, he held his teammates accountable and didn’t sugarcoat the situation.
It wasn’t difficult to see why Walker’s mood was more than a typical letdown after the Bobcats (3-23) dropped their 13th straight game. Unlike some of his teammates such as Tyrus Thomas (2 points and five rebounds), Walker stuck around to give his version of why the Chicago Bulls (23-6) could dismantle the Bobcats 95-64 without Derrick Rose and Richard Hamilton.
Despite facing the Bulls without last season’s MVP and having two days off before the Friday night contest at Time Warner Cable Arena; the Bobcats were pushed around, out hustled and out classed before a sellout crowd of 19,379. The outing was so awful for Charlotte that fans were laughing as both Bismack Biyombo and DeSagana Diop shot air balls from the foul line.
“We just have to play harder, and we just have to come together as a team,” Walker said. “We have to do the right things. We have to at least just be in the game. It is embarrassing. We have to put together a better effort and come together.”
Walker wasn’t the only one in the locker room being honest, though.
Forward Derrick Brown echoed Walker’s comments of “embarrassment.” He described the losing streak as contagious. He even repeated the sayings, “We have to find a way” and “It is bad.”
For weeks the Bobcats have been bad and haven’t found a way.
And Brown, who was the only Bobcat to score in double figures with 10 points, didn’t use injuries and youth as a reason for the longest losing streak of the shortened NBA season. He said the losing streak will reveal the character of his teammates. He said everyone on the roster is responsible for what has happened this season, and there isn’t just one element to why the team is struggling.
Asked how can the team turnaround its season, Brown didn’t have an answer. He looked at the reporter and requested the gentlemen give the Bobcats a blueprint for winning. For Brown, he believes it is all about finding a way to get a victory and ending an horrible streak.
“There are no excuses anymore,” he said. “Like I said, ‘It is one thru 15.’ And there is no one excluded from the embarrassment right now.”
More important than the humiliation of another blowout loss, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Bobcats because Chris Paul and Blake Griffin come to Charlotte Saturday night.
Unlike Brown and Walker, Bobcats coach Paul Silas tried to remain positive. Despite calling out his team for lack of energy, Silas believes improvement is on the way.
He points out Charlotte has been without its top three players for most of the losing streak. He noted that even with forward Corey Maggette’s return from a strained hamstring it will take time for the veteran swingman to get back into game shape. Maggette, who missed the previous 19 games due to a strain hamstring, played more than 13 minutes. He finished with four points on 2-of-7 shooting and four rebounds. Silas hinted Maggette could start against the Clippers.
Silas believes when starters D.J. Augustin and Gerald Henderson return after the All Star break in two weeks his team will have a better chance at playing with more consistency.
“I think things will change,” he said. “I try to make them understand that they’re blessed to be where they are individually, because if everyone was here they wouldn’t be getting the minutes that they’re getting. You have to find something positive in everything, and I’m not going to let them get down. That’s not going to happen.”
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