Bobcats Make History but Fall in NBA Debut

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Pondering whether a close loss in their NBA debut was a moral victory for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, Emeka Okafor did his best cheerleader impersonation.

“I guess you see those movies where everyone is like, ‘Yeah! At least you guys were in there!’ ” said Okafor, who led the Bobcats with 19 points and 10 rebounds. “I guess I’d rather lose the way we did than get blown out. But I want to win.”

That might take awhile.

The Bobcats, owned by the first black majority owner in major pro sports in Bob Johnson, marked the NBA’s return to Charlotte after a two-year absence with a hard-fought 103-96 loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.

Replacing the Hornets after they moved to New Orleans in 2002, the Bobcats fell short in their bid to become the third consecutive expansion team to win its debut, following Vancouver and Toronto (1995).

The score was tied, 85-85, when turnovers and poor shot selection allowed the Wizards to go on a game-deciding 9-0 run.

“They’ve got some talented guys ... they will get a lot of upsets,” said Antawn Jamison, who led the Wizards with 24 points.

Unlike the Hornets’ first game in 1988, when they received a standing ovation after a 40-point loss, most of the sellout crowd of 23,319 was gone by the end, including NBA Commissioner David Stern.