Duke 63
Temple 61
November 24, 2000
NIT Finals, Madison Square Garden

   What Duke's victory over Temple showed is that while Shane Battier is still the defensive leader of this team, Jason Williams has truly emerged as the offensive leader.  Jason and Carlos Boozer scored Duke's last 26 points of the game, and a large number of Boozer's buckets came on penetration from Williams.  Moreover, Jason is now a "next play" man in true Duke tradition-- being able to move on from either a mistake or a good play and go to the next play, blocking everything out.  He twice hit three-pointers that gave Duke the lead in the second half, including one with just under two minutes left that put Duke ahead for good.  He hit a running one-hander right after he carelessly turned the ball over, leading to a Temple bucket.  And he hounded the unflappable Owl guards into mistakes when Duke needed it the most.  But best of all, when there was a scramble for the ball with under  a minute left and Duke leading by one, he went after it, missed, and then leapt from a prone position about three or four feet away to pounce on it.  He then coolly called a time-out, and set up Boozer for the last basket of the game. Coach K described Jason's jump as his "best play as a Duke basketball player".

   There may have been some who thought this would be an easy win for Duke, but anyone who had watched Temple this year knew that they had some real talent to go along with their usual disciplined style of play.  Lynn Greer tortured Duke all night with his quickness and ability to withstand ball pressure, while big Kevin Lyde used his body and surprising skills to get 12 points and 6 offensive rebounds.  They proved they were ready to deal with Duke by controlling the tempo and not allowing them to get much out of their devastating transition game.  The first half featured 13 lead changes as their matchup zone did what it's supposed to: lull shooters into thinking they have wide-open shots, and then close in on them.  Temple coach John Chaney was very aggressive in how his zone played the passing lanes, getting as many hands in there as Duke usually does.  And while Temple lost the  advantage of having 300 pound center Ron Rollerson in there because of foul trouble, guard David Hawkins actually gave Duke more trouble as a sub because of his quickness and ability to take his man off the dribble.  Dribble penetration was the story of this game, as Williams found the gaps in the zone to draw his man in again and again, while Greer, Wadley and Hawkins were able to drive into the lane and pull up for fade-aways that they would nail.       But beyond Duke's ability to drive, what really won the game was their  guttiness at the end.  Temple seemed surprised at how hard Duke was coming at them as the Devils were able to tie up the ball several times down the stretch.  If Duke couldn't force turnovers by overplaying on the wing, they simply would have to take their pressure right to the player.  This all-out style held Temple scoreless for the last 3.5 minutes of the game, with the exception of a single free throw earned when Dunleavy fouled his man on purpose.

  Taking a closer look at the stats, one sees that the numbers are remarkably even for the two teams.  Duke shot 40% to Temple's 38%, but the Owls were better from three, 33% (8-24) to 30% (8-27).  Duke shot a distressing 69% from the foul line (11-16), and this time it wasn't the bench that was throwing up bricks.  Temple outrebounded Duke 36-34 and 14-13 on the o-boards, but a margin this thin is usually a victory for Duke if they're forcing a lot of turnovers.  In this game, however, they weren't--both teams had 6  steals and 11 total turnovers apiece.  Dunleavy led all Duke rebounders     with 8, followed by Boozer and Williams with 6.  Boozer led all scorers with 26 points; no other Devil was in double figures.  Williams was close to a double-double with 9 points and 10 assists.

  The game began with both teams trading the lead back and forth.  Duke was bombing away from three early on, jacking up 11 threes in the first ten minutes.  Duke was able to score a bit in transition early on, as Williams found Boozer twice.  But there were very few other opportunities on the run for Duke.  Temple took a 10-7 lead with about thirteen minutes left in the  half but Duhon hit a couple of threes to help Duke to a 15-10 lead.  Duke went to its bench at that point, and Casey Sanders niftily found his way out of a double-team by spotting Nate James cutting to the basket.  The Owls quickly struck back with a 7-0 run, but Williams found Boozer after driving into the lane to tie it up.  Things continued to back and forth as Duke reclaimed the lead on a Battier rebound basket, and extended it with a  transition dunk for Duhon and yet another Boozer dunk after Jason penetrated. The Owls continued to hit the tough shots and crash the boards, and the lead swung back and forth for the rest of the half.  James found Battier in the corner for a three to put Duke up 31-29, and the Devils forced a  turnover on the next possession to end the half.  Duke had only turned the ball over 3 times but was only 11-27 from the field.  Battier was really struggling as even his shorter shots wouldn't fall--he was 2-7 in the half, and 1-4 from inside the stripe. 

  The second half began with Dunleavy getting an offensive rebound and pitching it out to Battier for a three.  Temple responded by rattling off 5 straight points, once again refusing to fold.  Duke then gave them a  very stern test over the next three minutes, with Williams finding Dunleavy for a three and leading Boozer twice for buckets.  One of them came after Boozer had been blocked twice by Kevin Lyde in the same sequence, but Boozer used his left hand the next time to softly lay it in.  But the Owls responded with a 9-0 run that included Boozer missing 2 free throws and a three from an offensive rebound.  Coach K said that it was this sequence that nearly killed the Devils and would have been responsible for the loss regardless of the endgame.  He also blamed himself to an extent, because Boozer also put up a very flat jumper during this sequence, which Coach K saw as a sign that he was tired.  K blamed himself because he usually gives Boozer a rest four minutes into the half, and hadn't subbed in for him yet. The Owls were up 43-41 at this point.

  The Devils did quickly recover as Boozer found Williams for a three on a relocation pass and Battier drove and found Boozer cutting for a layup. Duke led by three again, but Temple once again tied it up with a three and hit another three for a 3 point lead.  Boozer halted the run with 2 free  throws, but the Owls kept the pressure up by scoring again.  Williams penetrated and this time sank a big running one-hander to pull Duke within 1 with six minutes left.  The Owls hit yet another three, but Boozer once again hit some foul shots, bringing Duke to within 1 at 54-53.  This is when the Owls made a big move, turning Jason over and hitting an enormous three. Temple went up 6 with just 3.5 minutes left in the game and had completely seized momentum. 

  Duke did not panic by jacking up quick shots, but instead went back to what was working: Williams penetrating and Boozer catching.  Jason went deep into the lane and flicked an incredible behind-the-back pass to Boozer who flew in for the dunk.  Duke forced a turnover but Dunleavy missed a three. However, Duhon got his hands on the rebound and shovelled it to Boozer, who drove in for the layup.  Duke was now down 60-58, with 2.5 minutes left. Duke managed to tie up the ball in the corner, and Jason danced around the  perimeter before stepping back and nailing a huge three that gave Duke its first lead in nearly eight minutes.  Duke forced another tie-up that went back to Temple, and the Owls took another three, this time by Wesby.   The ball bounced all over the place.  Wadley jumped on it, but Dunleavy  leaped over to knock it loose.  The ball squirted over to the post, where Williams made his leap and called time out.  Duke held the ball until Jason drove and found Boozer once again, with just eleven seconds left.  The Devils went all-out with their pressure, trapping Temple whenever possible. Duke used a foul they had to give and then fouled the Owls with just two seconds left to prevent them from getting off a three.  Considering how deadly the Owls could be when it really mattered, this was a good strategy. After Greer made his first, he intentionally missed the second so that Temple could rebound it.  The ball bounced around and went off Boozer with .3 seconds left.  Boozer then got between Lyde and the bucket and forced a poor attempt when the ball was inbounded.  Duke won their second-ever NIT championship after winning the inaugural title in 1985.      

  Charles Barkley once said of the championship Houston Rockets of the mid-90's: "They won't die, you have to kill them."  The same rule applied to Duke in this game.  They didn't always play well, but they didn't point fingers and came together as a team when they needed to.  They went with players who were hot and plays that worked, but most of all, they played their best defense of the year when they really needed to.  Temple was completely suffocated in the closing minutes of the game after using their toughness and smarts to dictate the flow of the game.  I imagine that for the next matchup, Chaney will be looking for ways to stop Jason's penetration, and Coach K will be looking for ways to get better shots.  Neither team did exactly what they wanted to do--Duke scored far less than usual, but above what Temple usually allows.  Greer had 5 turnovers after only picking up 2 in his first four games of the year.  No one from Duke was able to consistently hit jumpers.  It was a classic stalemate, with one mad scramble for a rebound essentially settling the whole thing.

  For the tournament, Boozer was the MVP.  Williams made the all-tournament team, along with Kirk Haston of Indiana, Chris Owens of Texas, and Kevin Lyde & Lynn Greer of Temple.   

** Positives:  

1. Rebounding. Though outrebounded for the game, it was Duke's superb effort on the boards in the second half that set up their comeback.  And Jason's mad scramble that basically spelled the difference in the end.  Four out of the five starters had 5 or more rebounds.   

2. Penetration.  Jason attacked again and again, never making a move without a purpose.  He hit just enough of his own shots to keep the defense honest, and did a great job finding open teammates.  

3. Hustle.  The difference between Duke this time last year and right now is that last year's club **thought** they could win, and this year's club **knows** it can win.  And it knows the way you do that is by outworking the other club and never letting up.    

** Negatives:  

1. Shooting.  Shots just weren't going down, and many of them were rushed. This is to Temple's credit, but Duke panicked at times and didn't get set properly.  

2. Careless passes on the wings.  There were times when targets didn't meet the ball strongly enough (Battier and Sanders), and other times when the passers floated some lazy pasess right into the teeth of the defense (Williams, Duhon).  

3. Foul shooting. I was stunned to see Carlos miss 2 foul shots during one sequence, which kept Duke's lead at 7, which helped give Temple life.  He made up for it by hitting 5 of his last 6.    

Player-by-Player:

** Boozer:  A game that can be described as no less than brilliant for the MVP of the Preseason NIT.  His getting the ball on the blocks and going up against Lyde was the one play that was consistently working for Duke, and they simply went to it again and again since nothing else was as effective.  Temple losing Rollerson really hurt them here, because they didn't have anyone who could effectively double-team Boozer, leaving the wide but relatively short (6-9) Lyde alone against Boozer much of the time.  Of course, Lyde wiped out several of Boozer's second-half attempts, but the big Alaskan kept hammering away.  He also was the recipient of some mind-bogglingly gorgeous passes from Williams, who got him the ball in great position, but his footwork and aggressiveness also helped him get open.  Jason credited him with finding ways to slip behind the zone and make himself available time and again.  His scoring really was repetitive--Williams drives, dishes off the Boozer on the right block, who lays it off the glass or dunks.  Lather, rinse, repeat. But Temple chose not to double-team him, and because he was aware and active on every play, almost demanding the ball, he gave himself a chance to have a truly remarkable game.

** Battier: Great defensive game, mediocre offensive game.  Word has it that he has an injury of some kind that prevented him from moving as well as he would like.  His only threes came late in the first half and early in the second, and he also had a rebound basket.  Temple made him almost a complete non-factor, reducing him almost entirely to a jump-shooter who wasn't getting them to fall.  He did have one drive where he fed it to Boozer, but he really didn't try to attack the basket very much.  Of course, penetrating and driving all the way to the basket is difficult against a zone, and doubly so with a shot-blocker like Lyde lurking near the hoop.  But I would have liked to have seen him drive and pull up a bit more.  No complaints about his defense,  which was masterful as always.  

** Dunleavy:  Mike made his biggest impact on the boards, especially the defensive boards, and this helped his team out a lot at a time when things were looking bleak for Duke.  He also wisely fouled Temple at the end of the game when Duke had a foul to give and was trying to prevent Temple from getting a good look.  He fouled again with just seconds left and a 3 point  Duke lead, forcing Temple to try to get a rebound off a missed free throw. Mike hit Duke's first basket of the game as well as the second basket of the second half, both of them threes, but missed everything else.  He pretty much forgot about scoring in the second half and concentrated on rebounding, which he did masterfully.  He found Duhon and Battier for threes as well. This was a good game, but certainly not one that he dominated.  

** James: Nate did not have his best game, though he was solid on the boards and had a couple of steals.  He was beaten off the dribble a few times by Temple's quick players and had trouble with a nearly 4-guard lineup that  they threw at Duke.  His one field goal was a dunk from a Sanders pass, and his usually reliable shots from the corner just didn't go down.  He did sink 4-4 from the charity stripe and tied Boozer for the offensive rebounding lead, however.    

** Williams: Not a flawless game, but one where he improved as he went along and finished brilliantly.  He had trouble attacking the zone at first, not penetrating it as much as Coach K would have liked.  But eventually, he was getting free play after play, and he seemed to know when to shoot and when to pass.  The first half was not kind to him offensively, however, as he was 0-4 and didn't get to the foul line once.  He did contribute with 5 assists (3 to Boozer, 2 to Duhon) and 4 rebounds.  He led Duke's big early second half charge with 3 straight assists, but made a couple of costly errors right after that.  Coolly redeeming himself in the style of Bobby Hurley, he nailed a three and sank a floater on yet another drive.  His 2 late assists to Boozer and his own three sealed the win, although he did charge wildly into the lane with no target nearby, and turned the ball over after getting bumped.  But his leap for the rebound is what will be most remembered about this game, and rightly so.  Carlos got the MVP trophy, but Jason is the one who really carried the team to the title.    

** Duhon: Not a great game for Chris.  He hit two huge early threes, but his second-half shot selection was questionable at best.  He chucked up a three when he clearly wasn't set, and put up an off-balance runner as well.  Of course, he did have one huge play, where he got an offensive rebound and immediately fed Boozer for a layup to cut Temple's lead to 2 with 2.5 minutes left.  He also played some incredible defense down the stretch, forcing tie-ups and putting a lot of pressure on the ball.  Defense is still his  best asset, though his ability to shoot and pass is also impressive.  But the greatest of these is defense, and this is what gets him the big minutes.

** Sanders: Casey had an early block and did a nice job on the boards, but once again could not hang on to the ball.  His early play in the post where he was double-teamed and found James for an open dunk was brilliant and showed the kind of potential he has in the post.  But his bobble of a Williams pass led to a rare transition bucket for the Owls, even if he did run all  the way downcourt to try and block the shot.  Still, he gave Boozer five  minutes of rest in a game that was easily the biggest of his career.  This was the first time Casey has gotten this kind of playing time in a game this big.  If nothing else, now he'll see what it takes to make an impact in this sort of contest.  

** Horvath: Just got in for a bit, long enough to pick up an assist.  It's clear that he's not quite 100% yet, but hopefully he'll pick up a few minutes and some confidence against Army.   

Next Game: Just 22 hours after beating Temple, Duke must play Coach K's alma mater, Army.  The Cadets are 2-0 after beating the Coast Guard Academy and New Hampshire.  Pat Harris, Coach K's former point guard during his coaching tenure at Army, has a team that's scored a lot of points.  They have a guard named Chris Spatola who is averaging 24 points a game and is deadly from three.  His brother JP is scoring 8 a game and is also a solid outside shooter.  Senior Seth Barrett has played in just one game but came off the bench for 17 points.  Army turns the ball over about 17 times a game, so this will be an area that Duke should be able to exploit.  Army's tallest regular player is only 6-6, so Boozer and Battier should be able to get lots of open shots.  Look for Sanders and Horvath to get some extended minutes, and expect Sweet to play a lot in the second half.  Barring a torrid shooting night from the Cadets or a clankfest from Duke, the Devils should be able to win this one with little difficulty.     

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu 

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