2C
SPORTS/T[|e CtiatUttt
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Paiiiliers ready to nil
Continued from page 1C
“Our team got closer,” head
coach John Fox said. “We
came to work and practiced
We got fresh
ened up
Without a
doubt, we got
healed off We
had an oppor
tunity to
reflect on some
things we were
doing schemat
ically in all three phases and
1 think we improved ”
For sure. Receiver Steve
Smith had a record day with
201 yards receiving and a
pair of scores; quarterback
Jake Delhomme hit 21-of-31
passes for 341 yards and
three touchdowns. The
Fox
offense outgained
Mirmesota’s 452-253 and the
defense rolled up four sacks.
“Steve had a great game
That’s pretty impressive,”
said Davis, who ran for a
couple of scores “Special
teams played great, defense
played great. Everybody
played great It’s a stepping
stone for us. The thing we
have to do is keep getting
better”
Tkmpa Bay’s no
Miimesota, however ’Ihe
Buccaneers have one of the
league’s top defenses and a
punishing ground attack fea
turing rookie Camell
Williams. As a division
game, it has extra impor
tance.
‘We take one game at a
time,” said Smith. “You look
at this (Miimesota) game. It
was a win. Next week we’ve
got a bigger challenge. It’s
that NFC rivalry We’ve got
to step our game up ”
‘We have the number one
defense in ’Ihmpa next week
and it’s going to be tough,”
Delhomme said. “There is
never an easy game versus
those guys. They can bring
it Hopefully, this is a step in
the right direction.”
Smith, who has five 100-
yard receiving games, said
’Ihmpa Bay-Carolina doesn’t
need any hype. Both sides
know what to expect.
“You have to be ready for
the challenge,” he said. “It’s
going to be a pimishing
game.”
Bobcats tip off home season
Continued from page 1C
uptown arena this Saturday against Boston.
“I’m looking forward to playing Chicago,”
Bickerstaff said flatly, referring to the
Bobcats’ season-opening road game on
Wednesday
Moments later, he got even more serious.
We want to try to disrupt the NBA, if we
can,” Bickerstaff said. “(’Ib) the prognostica
tors, it’s pretty much like it was last year - we
may be the worst team in the NBA So we
wimt to kind of disrupt things, if we possibly
can.”
For that to happen, the second-year Bobcats
will have to be like the rest of the NBA this
season: vastly different.
And, well, they can be
While rookie point guard Raymond Felton’s
off-season playoff proclamation is highly
unlikely, the Bobcats have made clear
improvements to a team that went a surpris
ing 18-64 imd avoided having the worst
record in the NBA last season (that distinc
tion belonged to 13-win Atlanta).
Critical personnel additions and an increas
ing familiarity with his philosophy,
Bickerstaff said, should allow the Bobcats to
be better defensively - a necessity since only
four teams allowed opponents to shoot a bet
ter field goal percentage than did the Bobcats
(46.3), which contributed to their propensity
for squandering leads in the fourth quarter
“I think you improve simply in that the
things you did last year, you’re doing those
things this year,” Bickerstaff said. “So there’s
a little better reaction, as opposed to thinking.
“1 certaiiJy don’t want to change our per
sonality. What we’re trying to teU the guys is:
We’re aggressive. Let’s stay aggressive.’ And
eventually they represent (the coach’s) per
sonality”
Already, the players reflect BickerstafTs
drive.
Power forward Emeka Okafor, last year’s
NBA rookie of the year, showed up at training
camp with 20 pounds of new muscle (if that’s
possible). And to improve his scoring poten
tial, Okafor(15.1 points, 10.9 rebounds) spent
two weeks this summer getting tutored on
post moves by NBA legend Hakeem
Olajuwon.
’Ihe Bobcats should benefit greatly from
having most of their 2004-05 starting lineup
intact, with point guard Brevin Knight, shoot
ing guard Kareem Rush, small forward
Gerald Wallace and center Primoz Brezec
joining Okafor.
Depth, however, could be the critical differ
ence this season. Promising first-round draft
picks Felton and Sean May, who played
together at North Carolina, might be the first
two players off the bench. And veterans Keith
Bogans and Melvin Ely, who dropped 20
pounds, win provide stability
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