Couple notables from pregame

• Sam Vincent, an assistant on Avery Johnson’s staff last season, is in his first year as Bobcats head coach. “We keep in contact,” Johnson said. “It’s been pretty big a transition year for them. That’s where they are right now. He’s a new coach and they’re trying to learn his system, and there are a lot of growing pains with that.”

• The ticket amounts for North Carolina natives: Josh Howard (82) and Jerry Stackhouse (65). Gana Diop, a graduate of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, needed 27.