Multiple Game Review
|
|
Having had other commitments, I've decided to do a round-up of the
last four games, with a player-by-player look at the end. 2/1/01:
UNC 85, Duke 83
This game has been dissected to death by virtually anyone with an
interest in either team. While the missed free throws and Duke's overreliance on the
three point shot were certainly valid concerns, the biggest factor that
led to Duke's loss was the defense's inability to recognize screens.
This happened one way or another throughout the entire game.
Early on, UNC was using their classic backdoor play to exploit
Duke's overplays in the passing lanes until the Devils adjusted by
rotating over a bit quicker. UNC
adjusted by having quick PG Ron Curry use a penetrate-and-pitch approach
to draw in defenders and get open shots from UNC's jump shooters.
But the Heels were most effective in using picks to clear away ball
pressure on drives; the Heels used the same play to erase Chris Duhon
three times in a row, and this allowed them to get a 63-59 working margin
at a time when Duke looked like they were ready to make a move.
Defensively, UNC was able to force Duke into
becoming more of a one-on-one team and slowed down their fast break.
They imposed their will on Duke in the paint, intimidating Boozer
to the point of helplessness, but more importantly making sure that he
never got a single good look. While
Duke's players are so talented that they were able to fight back using
their skills, the less team-oriented nature of the offense led to some
impatience and some quick, ill-advised shots.
Despite Duke's problems in these areas, as well as losing the
rebounding war as expected, Duke very nearly pulled this one out.
This was thanks due to an unstoppable performance by Jason
Williams, who pulled out every move he had to attack the Heels (not to
mention taking a couple of charges). Also noteworthy was Mike Dunleavy, who had had a mediocre
game until he got a monstrous dunk and three point play against Capel and
hit a clutch three with four seconds left in the game. Duke missed 14 free throws, a nearly unthinkable number with
27 attempts on the board. UNC,
a poor foul shooting team, put the guys they wanted on the line and made
their free throws.
While it is true that Duke took a lot of threes (35) and made only
12 of them, and didn't have a lot of success in posting up, it's not true
that Duke only took jumpers. The
foul shots that Duke earned came for the most part on drives, another of
Duke's major weapons. UNC had
taken away Duke's post game (though Duke made a concerted effort to use it
in the second half) and made Duke take longer and more difficult perimeter
shots. Slowing Duke down a
bit and then varying its offensive tempo (run when it's there, but use a
patient attack for the most part and get the offensive rebounds) was the
perfect strategy against the Devils, and the Heels executed it extremely
well. This was the best defense I've seen UNC play since the 1993
team.
Coach K told the fans after the game that the players wanted it a
bit too much, and it made them a bit tight.
He said that there was no use in finger-pointing, because everyone
made mistakes. He's right
about the latter-- every player had their share of great plays and huge
gaffes. Chris Duhon had 5
steals, but was beaten badly a few times and blew a dunk.
Shane Battier only shot 5-16 from the floor and had that huge foul
on Haywood at the end of the game, but he also shut down Kris Lang and had
12 boards and 3 blocks. Jason Williams took an extremely ill-advised three
late in the game, but had 32 points and carried the team. Everyone on the team missed shots and free throws, but that's
just the way it goes. UNC was
absolutely terrific (especially role player Jason Capel and star Joe
Forte) and earned the win. But the most important thing to realize is that
this wasn't the end of the season or the ACC tournament.
Duke will have another shot at them. 2/4/01: Duke 100,
Florida State 58
The first ten minutes of this game were marked by that dread
affliction known as "Carolina hangover".
The 'noles had an early 9-6 lead thanks to a number of Duke
turnovers, but Duke went on a 6-0 run to build a little working margin and
seemingly restore order. But
the scrappy Seminoles didn't quit, and put on a 7-0 run of their own to
shockingly take a 16-12 lead with eleven minutes left in the half.
The biggest problem was simply that Duke couldn't buy a basket for
over three minutes. Duke then
used a 9-0 run to really restore order, but FSU was still hanging around
at 23-19 with about six minutes left in the half.
The tempo was just where the 'noles wanted it, and Duke looked
sluggish on offense. The the
Devils hit the "on" switch
and finished the half on an 18-5 run.
The nice thing about the run is that there was a lot of variety on
offense. It started with Battier scoring on a drive and then saw
Williams starting a lightning strike break, finishing with Dunleavy on a
spectacular dunk. Battier
then hit a three and posted up for another basket.
Williams found Dunleavy again, and then Chris Duhon came off the
bench to feed Boozer with a dunk and Battier for another three.
Towards the very end of the half, Williams found Dunleavy cutting
for a basket right before the buzzer.
Duke was scoring from outside, on the break, on cuts, on post-ups
and off the dribble. Better
than the offense was the defense, which suffocated the 'noles and took
every option away. Battier
drew three charges in the first half alone, while Williams forced a 5
second call. Shane had 14
points at the half along with 2 steals, 7 rebounds and an assist.
All-in-all, it may have been his finest half as a Devil.
Williams went wild from the floor, getting 6 assists in the first
half and cutting back on his shots.
Duke started the second half on a 13-2 run, just to let FSU know
that there was to be no comeback in Cameron this day.
The second half featured an emphasis on getting Boozer the ball.
Not only was this plan useful in terms of getting Carlos some
confidence, but his quickness allowed him to foul out a couple of FSU big
men. He wasn't doing anything fancy, either--just post-ups to draw
fouls (including a couple of three point plays), dunking off nice drops
into the post, and one powerful drive for a basket.
Battier was a bit quieter in the half, but James stepped up with 10
points and Dunleavy had
some spectacular plays. Mike
was dunking, hitting the long jumper and getting the offensive rebound. More
than anything, Duke responded on the boards, with Battier leading the way
with 9, Dunleavy with 8 and James with six.
Duke forced 21 turnovers and held FSU to 2-12
shooting from three. The
Devils only turned the ball over 7 times and got 19 offensive rebounds (to
just 2 for FSU!). Duke simply
took away every FSU option--inside, outside and on the drive.
Another positive is that the bench got some extended minutes, with
Duhon having his typical solid game and Casey Sanders surprising with some
good rebounding (5). The game
ended up as a decent win after starting a bit on the shaky side. Duke didn't panic and just kept playing their game until the
shots started going down. But
it certainly didn't hurt that Duke was playing FSU, a team with heart but
very little talent. This was
just the remedy the Blue Devils needed to get back in the groove. 2/7/01:
Duke 81, Clemson 64.
This game fell into "burn this game tape" category, as so
many games at Littlejohn do. After
being humiliated yet again at Cameron, the Tigers were ready to assert
themselves a bit at home. In
particular, Will Solomon wanted to come out and make a difference in this
game after he was shut down by Nate James in the first meeting.
For their part, Duke just wanted to continue to get back on track
after a few rough games in a row, and continue to get the ball to Carlos
Boozer. As it turned out,
none of these things happened.
Duke started the game well enough, blowing out to a 14-2 lead on
the strength of 8 straight Nate James points and back-to-back threes by
Battier. But Duke once again started to shoot too quickly, and this led to
Clemson getting some easier looks in transition.
While Duke's overall perimeter defense was excellent in this game
(the Tigers were just 1-12 from three), they did a bad job in recovering
when the Tigers blew right past Duke.
This was especially true of Jason Williams, who let Ed Scott drive
by him repeatedly to the tune of 15 points. Worse, he was turning the ball over and helping Clemson out
that way, and the Tigers clawed their way back to within 16-14 with ten
minutes left in the half. If
it wasn't for Nate, who had a rebound, a tip-in and a great pass to
Boozer, Duke might have fallen behind.
With six minutes left in the half, Clemson had gotten to within
20-19. But Duke exploded out
to an 11-0 run featuring 2 Dunleavy three point plays and 5 points from
Battier. Duke now had a 31-19
lead, but Clemson outscored Duke 6-2 down the stretch to keep the game
from getting out of hand. The
good news is that Solomon had been completely shut down by James.
The bad news was that Williams and Boozer had 4 points and 7
turnovers combined.
Williams came out in the second half and
immediately picked up a couple of assists, including one in transition to
Boozer. Duke now had a 39-25
lead and it looked like the rout was on.
But Clemson feasted off Duke turnovers and gained a lot more
confidence, and first went on a 13-5 run that was broken by a crucial
Duhon drive. But a 9-4 Tiger
run narrowed the margin to 50-49 with eleven minutes left.
Jason was looking very jittery, trying to do to much. But the result was either throwing up bricks or passing into
tight coverage, resulting in a turnover.
Boozer was not touching the ball at all, and Battier had been taken
out of the offense altogether. But
Duhon hit a crucial three on a Battier feed that eased the tension a bit,
and that was followed up by a Williams three. Nailing his first longball
of the game energized Jason a bit, and even after a 4-0 Clemson run that
brought them within 56-53, Jason was now ready to take over the game.
First, he found Boozer underneath, where he got
fouled twice. Then he
sank another three and found James underneath to give Duke a
9 point lead. After setting Boozer up for 2 more free throws, his job was
more or less done as the Tigers started to foul.
Dunleavy did have a three point play with four minutes left that
gave Duke a 71-57 lead, and they made just enough of their free throws
down the stretch to keep Clemson away.
James scored 8 down the stretch for a career-high 27 points.
Duke didn't have great offensive balance, and they missed way too
many foul shots (just 18-34). On
the other hand, they stomped the small Tigers on the boards 43-33, with
Dunleavy gathering in an incredible 17 rebounds and Battier 10.
Boozer had a mediocre effort with only 4 boards and 9 points--but
he once again had trouble getting the ball.
Perhaps most importantly, Duhon hit 2 crucial shots when the team
really needed him. His smooth performance gave Williams time to get his
head together, and Jason came through in the clutch.
Duke's greater efficiency and clamp-down on Solomon down the
stretch (he was just 4-16 from the floor for 11 points) gave them a
decently wide margin of victory, but keeping Clemson off the
boards was the key to success in this game.
Rebounding helped neutralize Duke's many turnovers (10 by
Williams). 2/11/01:
Duke 101, NC State 75
After a stretch of four games where Duke struggled at various times
to get into a rhythm, it was nice to see a contest where Duke completely
dominated a good opponent. While State is unlikely to be an NCAA team, they still have
quite a bit of talent and just beat Virginia rather soundly last week.
This team also gave Duke a lot of headaches up at the ESA in
January, and almost the same group of players nearly beat Duke in Cameron
last year. But in this game,
the only thing Duke didn't do was hit a lot of free throws (though things
are getting better) and keep State away from the offensive boards (13-9,
NCSU). Other than that, the
game was a spectacular return to form for Jason Williams, double-figure
scoring numbers for every starter, and even a few minutes for the bench.
State was actually the aggressor early on, holding small leads.
Duke was consciously avoiding the perimeter shot and instead was
looking to either drive or post up. It
was working, as Battier and Boozer were scoring down low and James got a
three point play. After a State miss, Duke hit 3 consecutive threes: Duhon,
Battier and James. It didn't
hurt that State turned the ball over 4 times in this span, nor that
Williams drew 2 charging calls on Grundy by getting in his face way beyond
the three point line. This was the best defensive performance I've ever
seen Jason give. Duke finished out a 17-0, six minute run with Boozer finding
Williams on a cut, Dunleavy hitting a 17' jumper after freezing his
defender with a fake and a step, and a soft Boozer turnaround jumper.
Duke led 24-9 and they weren't done yet.
Very much like in the Wake Forest game, whenever State scored in
the rest of the half, it seemed like Jason was there to come up with an
even more spectacular play to counter.
When State cut it to 27-11, he hit a three. But the man who perhaps
really sealed the deal was Nate James.
He was the man on the spot for a dunk after a Battier touch pass,
then found Duhon for a three, and then came up with a steal to fuel
another break. The Devils led
35-13, and the rest of the half saw the two teams more-or-less trade
baskets. Williams countered
State scores with baskets of his own 3 times, including a three, a 15'
pull-up and a spin layup. State
was getting plenty of chances underneath, but solid defense by Battier and
Boozer forced their men too far under the basket.
State was able to break Duke's press, but the Devils forced them
into charges (4 in the first half) or had them take jumpers that fell
harmlessly away. Duke forced
15 turnovers and only had 6 of their own, and shot 57% from the field.
Duke scored the first 5 points of the second half and kept the lead
between 25 and 30 for most of the half.
Williams hit a three and then threaded the needle for a spectacular
transition pass to James. Duke kept up its balance on offense, as Dunleavy scored on a
runner, Boozer drove and got a three point play, and Battier hit a three.
State went on a 7-3 run (with a Williams three in the middle), but
Jason scored 3 more to maintain a big Duke edge at 70-45.
State was turning the ball over a lot less, but they were hacking
Duke constantly. Duke started concentrating on feeding the post, giving Boozer
some nice looks at the basket. The
rest of the game was mostly Duke players shooting free throws, although
Christensen scored Duke's 100th point on a turnaround in the lane.
Duke did a much better job on the boards down the stretch and also
started to get into a nice foul shooting rhythm.
Duke needed a solid win over a good club to feel a bit better about
themselves, and they got it. But from here on out, Duke will be playing some very tough
clubs, with 4 of their last 6 games on the road. Player-by-Player: **
Boozer: Against UNC, Carlos frankly had his confidence rocked by
Brendan Haywood, the best defensive center in the league.
Carlos simply stopped attacking him after he was called for a
charge on one play, and even when he was fed the ball, he hesitated, got
too deep under the basket, and had
his shots swated away. UNC
challenged Duke's post game and it was found wanting, to say the least.
Carlos bounced back a bit against FSU, scoring 23 points and
fouling out a couple of their big men.
He was just OK on the boards but played good defense--FSU's three
centers combined for just 7 points and 5 rebounds.
He was a big reason why Duke struggled against Clemson, a team that
was very small but had some tough players who were around Carlos' height. While Duke was able to foul out a couple of them, Carlos
never got going. He wasn't
horrible--he did have 9 points, 2 steals and 4 boards--but he didn't
dominate the way he's capable of. This isn't entirely his fault, because
he's frequently ignored as a significant
option. Sometimes it's the
result of the defense (a tightly packed zone or double-teams), but it's
often the case that the guards don't get him good entry passes. This
was corrected against State, as Carlos got the ball early and often but
responded with some nice passes out of the post for cuts and threes. But
he simply looked a lot more composed overall, taking Kelley and Thornton
to the hole and using his soft hands for easy shots.
His rebounding numbers were up, logging 7 boards.
State has much better big men than FSU or Clemson (even if they
don't have a lot of height), so this was a good test for him. With Travis
Watson and Alvin Jones coming up, Carlos will need to play well. **
Battier: Of late, Shane
has been solid but not spectacular. In
the last four games, he's shooting a bit under .500 and averaging about 16
points a game--both below his season norms.
On the other hand, he's taken 5 charges and averaged 10 rebounds a
game, not to mention 2 blocks and 2 steals a game.
He's still the same defensive dynamo, but he's scoring a bit less.
Admittedly, three of those games didn't require his presence at the end,
but that's rarely stopped him before.
The most problematic game was of course UNC, where he was only 5-16
from the field, 3-9 from three. UNC
stopped his drives cold, and forced him further and further outside for
his jumpers. Shane did have
the flu, which certainly didn't help, but those are the results.
Luckily, there's plenty of other guys on the team who can score
big, and folks like James and Dunleavy have stepped up to help Shane out.
I think he's wearing down a little, and I'd like to see him
continue to rest a bit on offense if need be.
Let others create easy shots for him, and then come much more
aggressive in the last couple of games of the regular season.
His overall numbers are still at the top of the league in many
categories, and he continues his ascent through the Duke record books.
Speaking of which.... Points: 1.
Johnny Dawkins 2556 Three Point Field Goals: 1. Trajan Langdon
342 Threes
Attempted: 1. Trajan Langdon
802 Blocks: 1. Mike Gminski
345 Steals: 1. Tommy Amaker
259 Rebounds: 1.
Mike Gminski 1242 ** Dunleavy: Mike has really started to step up his play at both ends. After coming up big in the clutch against UNC, he's averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists a game. He's shooting nearly 50% from the field and playing decent defense. Other than taking a wild shot or two from the field, he's making good decisions and acting as a sort of tertiary playmaker and ballhandler. Against Clemson, he made a living posting up the smaller Tigers. Against State, he took them off the dribble and used some nice hesitation moves to get open shots. He's becoming more and more comfortable in the offense and is very difficult to defend. More and more, the Duke offense looks like 5 equals, and it's tough to tell sometimes who the first and last scoring options are. **
James:
After a few rough games, Nate has averaged 16 ppg and 5 rpg.
He's surprisingly one of the top 15 scorers in the league despite a
limited repetoire of moves. More
importantly, he's played fantastic defense.
He locked up Will Solomon and Adrian Crawford, and made Joe Forte
work very hard. He had a
remarkable 27 points against Clemson in addition to playing great defense,
delivering consistently on the line and on the floor.
He's reminding me more and more of Brian Davis as a senior, whose
role was to lead and play defense but who also was a very effective
offensive player. In fact, it was Davis who scored 30 points against
Clemson his senior year to stave off an upset, much like James did this
year. He still occasionally
dribbles a bit too much and shoots too quickly, but when he's in the
proper mode, he is deadly. One thing he did nicely against State was post up-- with his
huge shoulders, I'd love to see more of this.
He already uses more strength than finesse on his drives, so if he
can finish with either hand that will make even tougher. Nate waited a long time to become a great scorer, and his time is here. I predict he'll get his 1000th career point against Virginia
this Wednesday. No Duke
player has earned it more. Nate Dogg 1K Watch
(TM): (Nate has a chance to become the 47th man to score over a
thousand points for Duke.) Total
Career Points (as of 2/11): 989 **
Williams: After Jason
announced he wasn't going pro, he had some very weird games.
He played a nice floor game against FSU, shutting down Delvon
Arrington completely and getting a 10:2 assist:turnover ratio, but looked
wild and jittery against Clemson. He
played like his freshman self, trying to make impossible passes or taking
shots way out of the flow of the offense. More than anything, he lost the
flow of the game. To a
degree, the UNC game caused this, becuase I think he felt that he took too
many shots. While he did
shoot a lot, he was close to 50% on the day and only took one shot that I
thought was horrible. But one
could sense him taking matters into his own hands at the wrong time,
getting too much into an individual battle. But against State, he was
still aggressive with his shot, but found ways to spread the wealth a bit
earlier so as to get him better shots later. He also trusted his teammates
to get him the ball in good spots when he wasn't dishing to them.
The cut he made on a Boozer pass for a layup was a perfect example
of this. The key to Jason's
success is making things look easy. When
he's in the flow, he seems to be using a minimum of effort to shoot and
pass. When he's forcing
things, he always seems to be trying too hard.
A perfect example of letting the game come to you.
The remarkable thing about Jason's game is that
when you consider what a dominant scorer he is, it's amazing to see how
many assists he gets. The
chart below reveals that he's about to move into 10th place all-time at
Duke, and this is just as a sophomore.
Also of interest is that he has the same number of career points as
Nate James--989. He may well
get to 1000 before him!
Williams
Career Assist Watch: (2/11) 10. Dick DeVenzio
388 **
Duhon: Chris has been
averaging about 6 points a game of late, but many of those points have
been crucial. He hit 2 big
shots against Clemson to give Duke some breathing room, and he hit a
couple of open threes today without hesitating against State.
He's also picked up 13 assists against only 1 turnover, a perfect
complement to the more daring Williams.
With about 2 steals a game, there's no questioning his ballhawking
ability, but he doesn't always recover well when he's beaten off the
dribble. And like many young
players, he has difficulties fighting through screens.
He's playing over 20 minutes a game and has mixed well in various
lineups, whether he's running the team alone or he's out there with
Williams. This year, Chris is
limiting himself to be a role player and I'm not sure a true breakout game
is coming, unless Williams gets in serious foul trouble in a game. But I
think next year will be a different matter.
**
Christensen: After
a series of solid performances, Matt has simply not played all that well
in the last 5 games. The
reason is his propensity for fouling.
Coach K is willing to put up with the occasional turnover or bad
shot, but rapid fouls are something he really hates, because he doesn't
like putting his opponents on the foul line.
And Matt has picked up 12 fouls in his last 33 minutes of play. Moreover, these aren't fouls where he's hammering a guy going
in for an uncontested shot. They're
over-the-backs and clumsy pushes, or worse, offensive fouls.
Now, he is getting a few minutes of rest for Carlos, which is his
biggest job, and he's also getting 2 rebounds a game in his limited
minutes, but he can do so much more if he just plays a little smarter.
**
Sanders: Starting with
the FSU game, Casey's been getting some good minutes.
He had a nice turnaround jumper against FSU and pulled down 5
rebounds. He has the annoying
habit of leaving his feet and crashing into his man, which nearly fouled
him out against FSU. His free
throw form looks great even if his shot is a little wild.
Against NC State, he had some very important minutes.
When Boozer left the game with 2 fouls near the end of the first
half, Casey came in because Christensen had already picked up 3 fouls.
Casey didn't have any notable plays, but he played good defense and
didn't embarrass himself. While he picked up some cheap fouls in the second half, he
again looked a lot more comfortable in the game and didn't leave his feet
once. I do think that we'll
only see Casey in blowouts or when there is serious big man trouble, but
it's good to see him coming along, albeit very slowly. Cameron
Craziness: The UNC game had all sorts of great stuff from a student
body that was in a state of near-hysteria.
Many Crazies were in costume, including the Gorilla, an Elvis
impersonator, Devil Girl, and a Scottish highlander-looking fellow.
Many fans had blue fists in honor of Coach K's FIST (Five
Individuals Standing Together), and instead of doing "Hi, xxx"
before a game, the fans were silent and held their fist pointed towards
Duke's bench. They then
exploded when Duke was introduced. A
great cheer for Matt Doherty was "safety coach", and whenever
football players Curry and Peppers committed a foul, the fans held up
yellow flags. Mostly, the
fans were just very, very loud the entire time.
In contrast, the crowd at the FSU game (just 3 days later) was
nearly asleep. The players
noticed, too--the fans had given everything they had. They still had time
for a few witticisms, though. Nigel
Dixon, the plus-size center for FSU, was not surprisingly on the receiving
end of a few good zingers. Pointing
to Casey, the crowd, yelled "Casey Sanders".
Pointing to Dixon, they said "Colonel Sanders".
There was one fellow dressed up as a sort of McDonald's employee
holding a pole with a cheeseburger at the end, hoping to fish him in.
After Dixon fouled Nate James hard, a similar cheer to the earlier
one arose: "Bad Ass...Fat Ass".
When an FSU fan made the mistake of yelling "How 'bout those
Tarheels" and "Your football team sucks", the Crazies
started doing "O U" chants, making the O and U.
When an FSU player was at the foul line, a chant of "block
that kick" arose. After
Shane left the game, a chant of "four more years" came up, as it
had before. But when Nate left, "five more years" was the cheer!
The crowd was pretty quiet for the State game, although a lot of
player- oriented cheers could be heard.
There was "Du-du-du-Duhon" for Chris, which
sounded great. There was
"J-will, J-will, rock you" for Jason.
And standard State cheers ("If you can't go to
college..." and "Start the tractor"), as well as "If
you can't go to State, be a ref" were chanted. But the best new State
cheers were done in the "NNNNNNNNNN....CCCCCCCCCCCC....
STAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE...NC STATE!" cadence.
First there was "NNNNNNNNNNNNNN.... CCCCCCCCCC...STAAAAAAAAAAAATE...NIT!"
and then there was "BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG... HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH...SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL...BIG
HIGH SCHOOL!", one I'd heard before but was still funny.
One cheer that Coach K immediately stopped was "Guilty,
guilty" for Anthony Grundy's recent mishap with the law.
The 1991 national champs were honored at
halftime, and the following players made it back: Marty Clark, Kenny
Blakeney, Bobby Hurley, Billy McCaffrey (who hadn't been back since he
left Duke), Christian Laettner and the co-captains, Clay Buckley and Greg
Koubek. This being my
matriculating class (1991), I've always felt a connection to those guys,
and it was wonderful seeing both back, talking to the crowd.
Also in attendance were Trajan Langdon and Mike Dunleavy Sr, as
well as junior signees JJ Redick and Michael Thompson and top recruit
Shavlik Randolph. Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu |
| Rob is a thirty one year old Duke grad who's been an ACC fan since he was nine years old, when a young Duke team was beaten in the finals by Kentucky. Since that time, he has been fascinated by the entire league and started writing volumes on it in rec.sport.basketball.college and other electronic forums in 1991. Recently, he has been writing ACC analyses for Jazzy J's colbasketball.miningco.com site and regularly contributes features on women's basketball for the Duke Basketball Report. |