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Knicks-Bobcats Preview

Oct 29, 2009 - 5:00 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New York (0-1) at Charlotte (0-1), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Fans in attendance for Friday's home opener for the Charlotte Bobcats will receive a shirt with one of Larry Brown's favorite slogans - "Play the right way."

That's certainly not what the Hall of Fame coach's club did in its season opener.

The Bobcats will match up against another team that turned in a dismal first game when they meet the New York Knicks.

Charlotte won a franchise-record 35 games last season in Brown's first with the club and is hoping to reach the playoffs for the first time in its sixth campaign.

The Bobcats, though, set another kind of franchise mark in Wednesday's opener at Boston. They were held to their lowest point total in a 92-59 loss, shooting 31.1 percent and missing all 10 3-point attempts.

Asked if he'd ever coached a team that scored in the 50s, Brown said, "I don't know if they call that coaching.

"Our team wasn't prepared. Weren't ready to play," he said. "That's nobody's fault but the coach."

Gerald Wallace was the only Bobcat to reach double figures with 10 points. Wallace averaged a team-high 16.6 points in 2008-09 for his lowest mark in three seasons.

Center Tyson Chandler had an awful Charlotte debut, missing all five shots and finishing with six rebounds in 20 minutes. Chandler was acquired in July in a deal that sent Emeka Okafor to New Orleans.

Wallace averaged 20.8 points last season against the Knicks as the teams split four meetings.

New York may not have been quite as bad as Charlotte in its opener, but wasn't much better. The Knicks fell 115-93 at Miami on Wednesday, trailing by as many as 31 points.

The Knicks allowed an Eastern Conference-worst 107.8 points per game in coach Mike D'Antoni's first season in 2008-09. There wasn't any improvement Wednesday as Miami shot 56.7 percent.

"We couldn't make shots and couldn't stop them," D'Antoni said. "That's not a good combo."

Danilo Gallinari and David Lee each scored 22, with Gallinari making 7 of 13 shots from beyond the arc. The rest of the Knicks made 3 of 26 3-pointers.

"We need to learn from this loss and keep our heads up," Gallinari said.

Newcomer Darko Milicic left a good impression on D'Antoni with four points and seven rebounds off the bench. Milicic left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury but is expected to be available Friday.

"On the positive side, I thought Darko came in and did a good job," D'Antoni said. "He kind of solidified our defense. I think he's OK with the knee, I didn't want to risk it till the end. He could be key going forward."

Lee, who had an NBA-high 65 double-doubles last season, did not play particularly well against Charlotte in 2008-09. He averaged 11.3 points on 43.5 percent shooting and 9.3 rebounds.