Bobcats need one more win to avoid NBA worst-ever record

On Monday, for the 17th straight time, the Bobcats took the court and emerged with a loss, this time a 75-67 home defeat, at the hands of the Hornets. That’s significant, because the Hornets are just 19-42 and represented one of Charlotte’s best chances to break the losing streak and, more important, get the team’s elusive eighth win of the year.

Without that win, the Bobcats will make history, and not the kind of history they’ll commemorate with a banner. Because the lockout shortened the season to 66 games, Charlotte can’t match the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the most losses in NBA history—that team went 9-73. But if the Bobcats don’t win another game—and wind up 7-59—they will finish with a winning percentage of .106, worse than the Sixers’ .110 mark.

Monday was a missed opportunity for the Bobcats, because they led the game at halftime and were tied going into the fourth quarter. But Charlotte shot just 30.3 percent on the game.

“The whole year has been frustrating but this game was more frustrating because we really got ourselves up for this one,” guard Gerald Henderson told reporters. “It was a close game the whole game but we couldn’t score.”

That’s nothing new—Charlotte ranks last in the league in points (87.5) and shooting percentage (41.6 percent), a big part of the reason their record is so poor. What’s especially distressing is the offense seems to be getting worse. In their last four games, the Bobcats have averaged just 79.0 points.

But let’s take the glass-half-full approach here—the Bobcats still have six chances to break their streak and dodge a spot in futility’s record book. They play their next three at home, though the first two are against the Bulls and Grizzlies, and wins there are pretty unlikely. After that comes a Sunday game against Sacramento, a team that has lost 12 of its last 15 and is just 5-26 on the road. That could be the Bobcats’ best bet for win No. 8.

If that does not work out, the Bobcats follow with the 15-46 Wizards on Monday, in Washington. But Charlotte is already 0-3 against the Wizards this year, and the last of those three losses was by 28 points, at home. The Bobcats close with Orlando on the road and New York at home, and there are some encouraging signs for those two games—the Magic and Knicks each account for one of the Bobcats’ wins this year.

Charlotte will probably want to get that eighth win out of the way before the season finale against the Knicks, though. That game is on national television, which means millions across the country may be watching the Bobcats’ final embarrassment.