Stephen Jackson swishes buzzer-beater, Bobcats beat Hawks 88-86

It wasn't easy, but the Bobcats defeated the Atlanta Hawks on the road, 88-86, completing the biggest comeback in franchise history.

In the second quarter, the Hawks outscored the Bobcats 25-12, and it was worse than even that, as the Cats took around nine minutes of game time to score their first field goal of the period, and were, for a time, down by 22 points. But a solid 17 minutes of play, stretching from that second quarter into the fourth, brought the Cats all the way back into a tie game.

In that final period, it went back and forth with Shaun Livingston and Gerald Wallace keeping Charlotte in the game, until, at the buzzer, Stephen Jackson hit a fadeaway jumper on the wing and immediately made a championship belt gesture at the crowd, screaming at them to go home.

Game thread comment, lowlights, and highlights after the jump.

GAME THREAD COMMENT

griffter10 -- We might have to ride Liv for a little while until DJ can get his head right.

BAD

-- Please remember that Boris Diaw had a triple-double earlier this year, and he's an extremely useful player because he doesn't have to shoot to feel like he's involved in the offense. But putting up 2 points, 2 boards, and 3 assists in 22 minutes just doesn't cut it.

-- Eduardo Najera was posterized by Josh Smith with 3:00 to go in the fourth quarter. It wasn't the greatest posterization this year (see: Blake Griffin), but it'll almost certainly be highlighted on SportsCenter. It sent a buzz through the crowd.

GOOD

-- Livingston shot 8-13 from the field for 22 points, and deserved every one of the 30 minutes he played, as D.J. Augustin struggled early, and Paul Silas had no patience to let him work it out. 

-- Wallace ended up with 16 points on 15 attempts, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Shooting 4-6 from three made the Hawks worry about him on the perimeter, he had a monster fourth quarter block (that might have been goaltending, but still), and he was the only one who looked like he gave a crap for much of the game. He's strung together several awesome games and looks like the 2010 Crash again.

-- Stephen Jackson shot 12-24 from the field, and looked like he was headed for another mediocre night. He didn't do much other than shoot -- he was tasked with guarding Smith for much of the night, and Smith went nuts -- but he ended up with 32 points primarily because he took it to the rack and got to the line, and he got hot in the second half. Shooting 1-6 from three was mostly negated by shooting 7-8 from the line. And if you have any other problem with his game today, he can point to that final, incredibly horrific, yet successful shot over two Hawks at the buzzer for the win.