Duke 97
Portland 64
December 19, 2000
@ The Rose Garden
Portland, Oregon

  The Duke-Portland game held on December 19th wasn't televised, so I'll only pass along a few notes based on my listening to the game.  In the first eight minutes, there were 8 lead changes and 2 ties.  Portland actually held a 17-13 lead with twelve minutes left in the half. What was Duke doing wrong?  First off, they were turning the ball over, allowing Portland to get some easy baskets--in much the same way that Duke usually does.  For the game, Portland shot a disturbing 56% and it was much higher in the early going.  Second, Portland was very aggressively attacking Duke's press and taking good shots against it.  Third, Duke simply wasn't aggressive on defense.  Sure, there were attempts at steals, but not the tenacious, play-to-play kind of defensive attitude necessary to win game. 

  Duke is very fortunate that Portland is not a good outside shooting team, because they could have had a much bigger lead than 4 points if they were able to hit from the perimeter.  Boozer had 8 points in the early going to keep Duke in the game, and the Devils went on an 8-0 run to go up 21-17.  Portland fought back right away to tie it up at 21 with about nine minutes left in the first half, and looked like they'd make it a tight contest going into the half.  But a 14-4 Duke run led by Jason Williams' 8 points and 4 straight from hometown hero Mike Dunleavy gave Duke control. 

  At that point, Portland was on offense and a Pilot whacked Williams in the head with an elbow.  He went down and started bleeding profusely.  It turned out to be nothing more than a really nasty cut, and he ended up playing well in the second half, but what was more important was the team's reaction.  To quote Carlos Boozer, "We were pissed off."  Hmm, first Michigan gets Duke mad by jumping up and down on their floor, then Portland angers Duke by whacking a player...perhaps we could arrange for Stanford to insult some Duke players' parentage? 

  But Duke's reaction was no joke.  They went on a half-ending 17-3 run that featured absolutely suffocating defense and some brilliant play on the part of Chris Duhon (2 assists for dunks and a steal + layup) and Boozer (6 points, including two long jumpers).  A tight game had devolved into a 28 point laugher.

  Duke started the second half in a similar state of pique, blowing the game wide open with a 17-8 run.  And they did it with lots of offensive rebounds, with Dunleavy and James both scoring via putbacks.  For the game, Duke absolutely demolished the Pilots on the boards, outrebounding them 30-15 and 13-5 on the o-boards.  Williams returned in the second half and ripped off 7 quick points, including a steal + layup.  He ended up with 4 steals along with 17 points and 5 assists.  Duhon was brilliant in relief, with 9 points, 3 assists and 3 steals.

  Battier did his usual thing, scoring just 13 but getting 3 steals, 2 blocks and 4 rebounds.  Boozer was a perfect 11-11 on some high-difficulty attempts.  All-in-all, this game was typical for Duke: there were many lapses of concentration on defense followed by an intense rededication to working hard which led to some insane scoring runs. 

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu 

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