On Larry Brown's "play the right way" scale, Friday's first quarter was as good as it gets. Brown wants smart and willing passers, and Boris Diaw defined that. He scored or assisted on nine of the Bobcats' 17 first-quarter baskets, leading to a team-record 81 percent shooting in that quarter against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Bobcats are on a five-game winning streak, one-and-a-half games behind the Chicago Bulls for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. And even if they fall short, the way they're playing should be a spectacular jumping-off point for next season. The Bobcats' biggest challenge in training camp was creating easy scoring opportunities. That's no longer a problem, thanks to Diaw's creative and unselfish approach to the game.
BOBCATS 98, HAWKS 91: The final score understates how easy this was. The Bobcats led by 15 in the first quarter and had 29 assists on 41 baskets. They shot 54 percent and every starter reached double-figures scoring. Gerlad Wallace scored 21 points and Emeka Okafor contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds. But the star of the game was Boris Diaw, who tallied 13 points and 13 assists from his point forward spot.
