Boston 92, Charlotte 59

Looks like the Bobcats might need some work.

[recap] [box score]

Some statistical indicators of how bad Charlotte was: Gerald Wallace led them in scoring with ten points; they had ten- and thirteen-point quarters; Rajon Rondo out-assisted the entire team 11-10 despite playing just 30 minutes (and being just one guy); Wallace, their best player, was a -33.

Something about the look on the face of Charlotte coach Larry Brown -- known as much for bouncing around as for his excellent basketball mind -- made me think he wasn't going to be the coach there by the end of the season unless things changed. He looked utterly fed up with second-year backup point guard D.J. Augustin, and disgusted by the play and attitude of new center Tyson Chandler.

More bullet points (this should be brief):

• Doc was pretty good about managing most of the starters' minutes, with one glaring exception: Ray Allen played 38 minutes despite the game being out of hand midway through the third quarter. Don't forget, Ray played 42 minutes last night against Cleveland. Paul Pierce and Marquis Daniels were in a bit of foul trouble and Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine were out with injuries, so perhaps Doc felt he had little choice. Or perhaps Doc was using a game well in hand to experiment with different lineups. Still, I don't like the idea of running our 34-year-old shooting guard into the ground this early in the season.
• After two games of Shelden Williams, I'm comfortable in saying that he's going to be far more effective than Mikki Moore was. Twelve points and nine boards in an extended role tonight, though most of his scoring came from the free throw line, where he was eight-for-eleven. He has pretty awful hands, but he works hard and showed a decent amount of court awareness.
• Really nice game on both ends from Kendrick Perkins, though I wish he hadn't gotten caught up in jawing with Chandler, which resulted in a technical foul. He and Garnett defended the rim as though they were personally insulted that a Bobcat would dare try to score. That kind of defensive swagger is what helped us win a championship two years ago, and is what will help us win again this year.
• Mike and Tommy were on the guys for shooting too many three-pointers, but they made a bunch of them and they were almost all good looks. We have enough good deep shooters that if the shot is there, they should take it.
• J.R. Giddens was unspectacular in eight minutes, grabbing three rebounds and one steal. His most memorable sequence was airmailing a three-pointer from the corner, then over-aggressively trying to block a jumper on the other end and committing a foul.
• Lester Hudson played about nine and a half minutes and did nothing spectacular. Hudson is a scorer auditioning for minutes at point guard, and so he naturally isn't going to impress; he's trying to show that he can handle the ball, initiate the offense, and get others involved, while his strengh is putting the ball in the hole. You can tell he knows what he's doing on the court, but I'm not sure we're going to see the real Lester Hudson this year.