Bobcats at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets have to regroup from a costly loss that could possibly cost them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Fortunately for the Nets, they have the opportunity to get back on track against a favorable opponent when the league-worst Charlotte Bobcats pay a visit to Brooklyn on Saturday. The Nets have had their way with the Bobcats, winning the last six meetings.
Brooklyn, which leads Chicago by one game for the No. 4 seed, has posted a pair of comfortable wins over the Bobcats this season, including a 99-78 blowout win in Charlotte on March 6. The Bobcats are playing the second of a back-to-back, having lost to the Miami Heat (minus LeBron James and Dwyane Wade) by 10 points at home on Saturday. Charlotte has dropped 11 straight games on the road.
TV: 7:30 ET, SportSouth (Charlotte), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE BOBCATS (18-58): Rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist closed out March by scoring in double figures in four of five games, but he had only four points in Wednesday's win over Philadelphia after missing the previous game due to personal reasons. Kidd-Gilchrist got back on track with 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against Miami. Charlotte's backcourt tandem of Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker combined to shoot a woeful 5-of-31 against the Heat.
ABOUT THE NETS (43-32): Center Brook Lopez appeared on his way to a career night against the Bulls, scoring 18 of his 28 points in the first quarter and looking virtually unstoppable. Lopez cooled off the rest of the way, though, and compounded matters in the final seconds by committing an awful turnover and having a shot blocked on a potential tying basket. "I contributed a lot to how the final score ended up," Lopez said of the two-point defeat. "That’s definitely something I’m not happy with or proud of."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Brooklyn's margin of victory in the last four meetings is 14.8 points.
2. The Bobcats own the league's worst road record at 6-32.
3. Charlotte's last win over the Nets was in New Jersey on April 11, 2011.