In the second half of January, the Bobcats still had a tough time without Michael Reed.

On Jan. 14, they faced the Pistons on the road, with Chris Paul leading the team single-handedly, and Kendrick Perkins still hasn't returned.

The Bobcats lost the game against the Pistons 91-98 again, and the situation is not optimistic this season.

After this loss, major media outlets lowered their expectations for the Bobcats, believing that after being killed by the Pistons, the Bobcats' playoff prospects are already inferior to the Pistons.

"Although the Bobcats' regular season record is still ahead of the Pistons, they have lost to the Pistons in direct matchups one after another, and it seems that their tactical style has been restrained by the Pistons, and if they meet in the playoffs, it will be difficult for the Bobcats to have an advantage over the Pistons when the defensive intensity of the two teams has increased significantly."

The media was clearly willing to step on the Bobcats, but then they had a relatively easy schedule against the Hornets, Pacers, Magic and Bucks, and then the Bobcats won a four-game winning streak.

After those four games, Perkins also made a comeback.

The media has made another big turn and is touting the bobcat again.

But at this time, they ushered in a wave of three-in-a-row schedule, not an ordinary three-in-a-row, but a Texas three-in-a-row!

In the first game, the Bobcats faced the Spurs, and without Michael Reed, they lost the game by 96-104, 8 points, and the winning streak ended, with one win and one loss against the Spurs this season.

Lost to the Rockets again in back-to-backs, and was double-killed by the Rockets this season.

In the last game, they faced the Mavericks, and after four quarters of entanglement, Dek Nowitzki hit a key three-pointer before the end of the game to directly take away the victory, and this season is also a one-win and one-loss against the Mavericks.

As a result, Texas has three consecutive visitors, and the Bobcats finally got a three-game losing streak, and the ranking in the East has been gradually approached by the Pistons.

The media also began to take the opportunity to stomp on the Bobcats, ESPN's Henry Abbott said: "The Bobcats don't have a good record against strong teams, they were killed by the Pistons and Rockets, one win and one loss against the Spurs and Mavericks, and one win against the Lakers and Grizzlies for the time being." ”

"However, their victory over the Lakers and Grizzlies was won at the beginning of the season, and at this stage of the regular season, there are not many secrets about the Bobcats' pass-and-cut offense, and most teams have found a way to deal with the Bobcats' pass-and-cut offense and the ultimate five, so it is reasonable for the Bobcats to decline at this time."

"Judging from the Bobcats' recent record and performance, although it was affected by Michael Reed's absence, on the whole, their strength is only equivalent to one of the teams in the league that has the strength to compete for the championship, and it is not higher than the strength of other championship teams, and even weaker than the Rockets and Pistons without suspense."

"Perhaps, in this year's playoffs, we can see another Rocket-to-Pistons battle, 3.0!"

……

The Bobcats returned to Charlotte after a three-game Western Conference tour and were about to face the Cavaliers at home, and at this time, Michael Reed was close to making a comeback.

Qiao Hai's office, in front of him stood Michael Reed, and a Chinese face, John Wang, the chief team doctor of the Bobcats.

'He's healed from his left leg and doesn't show signs of the injury at all, and he's been doing recovery training for the past week.

John Wang handed over a report: "The advice of the team doctor team is that Michael can be substituted for tomorrow's game, go on the field to adapt to the rhythm of the game, and if there is no problem, he can come back." ”

Qiao Hai took the report, glanced at it, and smiled: "Michael, come with me." ”

Michael Reed naturally smiled, he knew the meaning of Qiao Hai's words, he knew that after a month of injury, Michael Reid was going to return to the team!

Michael Reed has also been paying attention to the game in the past month, he has seen his importance from the Bobcats' struggles, and the recent three-game losing streak has also made Michael Reed more and more excited about his comeback.

……

Michael Reed joined the Bobcats for daily training and, for the second day of the regular season, he went straight to the squad, sitting at the front of the bench.

……

Time Warner Center, Bobcats play the Cavaliers again at home.

In this game, almost everyone noticed Michael Reed at the front of the bench, although Paul has performed well this season, Michael Reed is still the nominal boss of the Bobcats, so Reed's comeback is of great significance to the Bobcats.

"In this game, the starting lineup of the Bobcats is similar to the previous games, point guard Chris Paul, scoring guard Andre Iguodala, small forward Danny Granger, power forward Josh Smith, center Kendrick Perkins."

"But at the same time, we saw Michael Reid on the bench, of course, in the past few games, we have also seen Michael Reid on the bench, but at that time, Michael Reid was wearing a suit, but in this game, we saw that he wore a training uniform and an official jersey."

"This means that he can play in this game!"

The commentator paid attention to Michael Reid for a while, and on the field, the game had already begun.

The big Z jump ball wins, and LeBron James receives the ball and advances to the frontcourt.

Then, he directly asked for a cover from Big Z, which was of high quality, and after the cover, he misplaced himself against Perkins.

This time, James is already quite familiar with Perkins, he knows that this is a very stable center in the lower game, and he can't rush hard, so he chose to move sideways by half a step, accelerate again, and rush directly inside.

Perkins saw that he was about to be unable to stop James, and he immediately took a step sideways and blocked it sideways in front of James.

James hit his head and, after hearing the referee's whistle, threw the basketball out again.

It was so dead, with a bang, the basketball smashed into the frame, and then got headlong into the net frame.

The referee raised his hand to signal a defensive foul, and after the ball went in, he signaled that the goal was valid, and the Time Warner Center immediately booed.

Qiao Hai also stood on the sidelines and expressed his dissatisfaction with the penalty, he thought that the ball should be a blocking foul by Perkins, and James's subsequent shot should not be counted.

But after the referee warned Qiao Hai, he ignored it completely.

On the commentary bench, Reggie Miller's face was full of surprise: "This goal actually went in, LeBron James played a 2+1 at the beginning, see if the penalty can be scored." ”

James walked to the free throw line, smacked, hit a free throw, 3:0.

The Bobcats' subsequent offense, Chris Paul crossed the cover and burst strongly, hit the basket, made a layup, and also scored 2 points.

This ball is the Bobcats' usual way of playing in Michael Reed's absence, using the impact of Paul and Andre Iguodala to go straight inside after passing the screen, and shooting straight as long as they can rush in.

Since Michael Reed is out due to injury, almost all teams know that they should expand their defense, limit the Bobcats' small range of coordination and shooting on the outside, and keep a center on the inside, pay attention to the defense, so as to defend the Bobcats, which works best.

Bobcat's lack of outside space made a reluctant move to increase the breakthrough.

And in this game, the Cavaliers are also expanding defensively, and they are also cooperating with a small range of defense on the outside of the Bobcats, and the game has just begun, and the effect is not yet known.