NBA: After 8 years, Charlotte to taste playoffs again

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Paul Silas remembers how strange and uncomfortable it was in 2002 when he coached an unwanted team in a city that had turned its back on the NBA.

Silas looked into the stands for the opening game of the playoffs and saw 9,505 fans in the 23,799-seat Charlotte Coliseum. The final game — a second-round playoff loss to New Jersey — drew less than 14,000. Days later, the Hornets were officially property of New Orleans.

"It was kind of disheartening and disconcerting because we did have a good team," Silas recalled Friday. "It was very difficult. It was really bad at that particular point."

Eight years later, a new team with a different name and colors owned by favorite son Michael Jordan will play in front of a full house in a new downtown arena on Saturday, Charlotte's first taste of the playoffs since the Hornets' ugly exit.

And the six-year-old Bobcats need all the support they can get down 2-0 to powerful Orlando in their best-of-seven series.

"It's going to be crazy," Bobcats guard Raymond Felton said. "It's something the city of Charlotte has been waiting on."

But will the shift in venue matter? The Bobcats have looked overmatched for much of the first two games in Orlando.

Dwight Howard's foul trouble and a less-than-stellar offense haven't mattered. The Magic have smothered Charlotte with defense and just enough 3-pointers, showing all the confidence of a team that made it to the finals last season.

Not even the prospect of Jordan's imposing, referee-baiting presence at the end of the Bobcats' bench for Game 3 seems to bother the Magic and feisty coach Stan Van Gundy.

"Come on, Michael Jordan hasn't had time to do anything as an owner," Van Gundy said when asked of his impact since buying the team. "I understand we're all supposed to bow down at the alter of Michael Jordan, but come now. Not in this case. He's been the owner for what, a month?"

For his part, Jordan is a little cranky, too. He watched his new $275 million toy fall behind 24-12 in Game 1 and 13-3 three nights later. Coach Larry Brown said his team, which dropped to 13-30 on the road this season, hasn't adjusted to the increased intensity of the playoffs.