Duke 129
EA Sports All-Stars 94

Cameron Indoor Stadium
November 2, 2001

  One thing that's clear about this year's Duke team is that offensively, they are LOADED.  The other thing that's clear is that there's definitely a Big Three, and it's the junior combo of Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy.  Williams looks to be the same force of nature he was last year, but Boozer and Dunleavy have very clearly improved in a number of ways.  Both look stronger and in better overall shape, and both seemed sharper in all aspects of the game.  Which is not to say that they didn't make mistakes, because they and the rest of the team did.  But those three guys have clearly established themselves as the leaders of the team.  Watching Boozer and Dunleavy very closely, it was interesting to see them do things they really didn't do last year.  In Carlos' case, he was actively hunting down every rebound in sight, even diving to the floor for a loose ball. He also unleashed some of his more interesting moves in the post.  In Mike's case, Coach K wasn't kidding when he said that he'd use him like Grant Hill. He nearly wound up with a triple double (5 assists short), hitting threes, hitting pull up jumpers, getting tip-ins and generally flying around the court.

  At the same time, it's obvious that Duke's team defense needs some work. It's rare that any team at any time will score 94 on Duke, although their tempo and style played a big part.  EA is a team filled with excellent three point shooters and a couple of good penetrators, but doesn't have much of an inside game.  They like to spread the court and either pull-up for threes right out of the box (ala Loyola Marymount in the late 80's) or penetrate-and- pitch for a three.  Their point guard, Tim Winn, was very quick and took  lots of pull-up threes.  They also had two lethal shooters in ex-Virginia Cavalier Curtis Staples (the ACC's all-time leader in threes) and ex-Gonzaga Bulldog Richie Frahm.  Duke made them work for their shots: Staples was 3-11 from the floor and Frahm 4-12.  The Devils didn't work as hard on Winn, who was 3-4 from three, or Adrian Peterson, who was 3-6. 

  The fact that this team beat UNC by 31 on Sunday had to be on the minds of the Duke players, because they came out on a mission.  Boozer scored the game's first 7 points in little over a minute.  They came on a rebound, a dunk on a Williams feed, and a pretty player were Dunleavy dove to get a steal, passed to Duhon who then dished to Boozer for the basket and the foul.  Duke really showed that they meant business when Dahntay Jones had one of the greatest blocked shots I've ever seen.  The ball then went into Duhon's hands, who instantly zipped it across the court to a waiting Jason Williams for a three.  The Devils then followed up with Dunleavy teleporting the ball into Boozer's hands for a dunk.  Just two minutes into the game, and Duke had a 12-0 lead.  EA Sports didn't know what hit them.

  But that team played pretty tenaciously throughout, sticking to their uptempo game plan.  They went on a 13-5 run, hitting a couple of tough threes, to climb back in it.  Dunleavy kept Duke ahead with a three and a rebound basket during that time.  Duke was looking a bit erratic during this period, as they subbed in Casey Sanders, Nick Horvath and Dan Ewing.  Duke tried several alley-oops that didn't quite work, and EA rushed back to hit some shots.  Jason hit a couple of technical free throws and then hit a three to keep the lead at 9.  After a missed jumper, Jones flew in from out of nowhere to grab the rebound and put it back.  He later stuck a 15' jumper to give Duke a 27-15 lead.  EA wouldn't go away, scoring 5 straight points to cut the lead to 7.  They had played tenaciously against NC State on Saturday, actually briefly taking the lead late in the first half.

  Duke put an end to all that nonsense with a 12-0 run that basically put the game away.  It was fueled by Duke's potent three point attack.  After a Dunleavy free throw, Mike rebounded his missed second shot and passed to Jason in the corner for three.  Then Jason passed to Chris Duhon, who up to that point had not attempted a single shot.  He naturally drained a 25' three pointer that barely disturbed the net.  Duke's defense was really disrupting EA now as they started taking bad shots.  Jason found Chris for another three after Ewing did a nice job defending Staples, and then later went in for a drive.  With 8:28 left in the half, Duke led 39-20.  Coach K put Andre Buckner in the game, along with Williams, Sanders, Horvath and Ewing. 

  Nick immediately made a contribution by rebounding a miss and getting  fouled.  After a Williams drive, Nick posted up and dished to Casey, who slammed it home.  But EA didn't go away, keeping the score at around 20 as the teams went back and forth.  After they scored 5 straight points, Jason responded with a three.  K then put Dunleavy and Boozer back in the game, and Duke went to their big guy.  Dunleavy led him for an easy basket, and then Boozer pulled up for a nice-looking 15' jumper.  After Ewing hit a couple of foul shots, Dunleavy pulled up for one of his tricky 16' jumpers. Tricky because he leans in sort of an awkward manner.  After another EA score (making it 56-34), Duke went into Christensen, who hit a nice sweeping shot in the lane, much to crowd's great delight.  The half ended with Dunleavy picking up some free throws and a Jason drive.  Duke had the ball with 12 seconds left, but Jason lost control of it at the last second. Still, Duke hada 63-40 lead over a team with some great scorers. 

  The second half began with Williams getting a steal and dishing it ahead to Boozer for a dunk.  That was a great play not only because of Jason's aggressiveness on defense and intelligence on offense, but also because of Carlos' hustle in getting downcourt.  After Jason scored on a drive, Duke went cold for a bit and EA took advantage.  They went on a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 20 points at 68-48.  Dunleavy got a nice tip in with his seemingly elongated arms, and then Duhon got a rebound, ran downcourt and threw it up to Jones.  Dahntay threw it down thunderously but was called for a technical for slapping the backboard.  After a Boozer rebound basket, EA hit another three to stay within 74-53.  They weren't going to come back against Duke, but they were trying to keep it respectable.  That effort didn't last long.

  After Casey blocked a shot, he got the ball in the post and passed it out to Horvath, who nailed a three.  Then Ewing got a rebound and immediately pushed the tempo upcourt.  He found Nick in traffic, who caught it but  looked for a moment as though he was going to drop it.  He dropped it all right--right into the hoop for a slam dunk.  That particular moved showed how strong Nick has become in the last couple of years.  After an EA three, Duke went on an 8-0 run to take a 31 point lead.  That started with a wide-open Duhon taking a pull-up three, then saw Dunleavy rebound a Boozer miss, and finished with Boozer rebounding a Jones miss and get fouled. 

  EA struck back with 5 straight points--they never gave up, no matter what the score.  Duke countered with 6 straight points of their own, with Dunleavy finding Boozer again for a dunk, Booze hitting a couple of freebies, and Carlos finding Jason on a nifty reverse layup.  Carlos was simply everywhere tonight.  EA closed the gap once again to 96-70 with about nine minutes left, but Duke embarked on a 7-0 run, led by some new faces.  After throwing up some airballs from outside, Jones got his bearings and calmly swished  a three.  Then Ewing, who had looked jittery on offense (though focused on defense), drove, backed up his man, and then turned around for a gorgeous 15' jumper.  Free throws by Jones and Boozer pushed the lead up to 103-70 with seven minutes left.

  The persistent All-Stars kept firing away, and would score 24 points in the last seven minutes of the game.  But Duke put on a final push that revved the crowd up.  It started with Jason finding Boozer for a score, and then Jason nailing a three.  Those two players exited the game to wild applause. With Duhon running things, Casey scored on a drive and got fouled.  Then Chris found him on the right block, and Casey used a picture-perfect turn-around jumper on the baseline.  After Chris then found Ewing open, Dan got an open court steal and threw it down.  Duke was now up by an obscene 117-77 margin. EA went on a 9-4 run after a couple of Duke turnovers, with Ewing and  Sanders both scoring.  Duhon found himself alone with an open lane, and went baseline for a spectacular one-handed jam.  He simply jogged up the court after that, his expression never changing.  Duke threw in more reserves with a couple of minutes left, with frosh Andy Means and Mark Causey getting in the game.  There were still a few great plays left to be seen though, including a tip-in by Andre Buckner (!) and a great mid-court steal by Causey. Causey then lined up for a three, but Christensen nearly tore the rim down with an amazing rebound stuff.

  Duke got very sloppy in the last couple of minutes and EA got some open looks at the basket and foul shots, as well as a couple of uncontested dunks due to turnovers.  What was important in this game was getting the new players comfortable, getting less established players into the flow of the game, and letting the juniors learn how to be leaders.  The team has a long way to go defensively and is not always efficient on offense, but it's clear that there's a lot to work with here.

   ** Negatives:  

1. Team defense.  EA was able to get some easy baskets inside when they went uptempo because the big men were out of position or didn't rotate quickly enough.  This is a major concern for Duke this year.  

2. Perimeter defense.  In all fairness, it's difficult to prepare your team for guys who will shoot from 25' with someone hanging all over them. But some of the guards didn't put up a hand or get in the face of EA's shooters quickly enough, and they made Duke pay (11-24 from three).    

3. Foul shooting.  The Devils shot just 60% for the game.  Granted, that included 1-4 from Sanders and Christensen, but most of the players on the team missed more than 1 foul shot.  

   ** Positives:  

1. Passing.  The way this team moved the ball around, constantly looking for an open shot, was enough to bring tears to my eyes.  This was beautiful, team-oriented basketball.  Eight different players had assists.  

2. Rebounding.  Granted, EA wasn't sending a lot of guys to the boards, but Duke outrebounded them by 27.  The Devils had 27 offensive rebounds! Andre Buckner had a tip-in basket!!!    

3. Balance.  This game is a good example of what happens if you play at Duke's tempo.  The Devils did a nice job of dealing with pressure and were simply relentless.  But the fact that the guards were looking for the big men and the big men were looking to pass as well was a great sign.

    Player By Player:  

** Boozer:  Remember Boozer in the final four?  And remember hearing about Boozer this summer?  Tonight was more of the same of the hustling, excited, passionate, smart player we all hoped Carlos would turn out to be.  Boozer worked hard to get good positioning and made EA pay all night long.  He scored being led to the basket.  He scored using his pet play--the fake one way, pivot the other way move.  He scored using either hand.  He hit a couple of jumpers.  He looked smooth on his free throws.  Carlos acted like he wanted every rebound.  He dove on the floor for loose balls.  He avoided silly fouls.  He scored 27 points in 23 minutes!  That really says it all.  EA actually had decent size, but Carlos had no problem using his strength to post up and get good position.  About the only thing Carlos didn't do well as rotate over on defense.  There were a couple of times where his man got the ball too deep for 'los to do anything about it. Defense is definitely his biggest weakness, but it is coming along.  As long as he and the guards stay in balance offensively, everything will be fine for Duke.     

** Dunleavy:  Mike was everywhere tonight, nearly getting a triple double. He was a force on the boards, getting 6 offensive rebounds (including a couple of tip-ins).  He was clearly much stronger and actually started using his leaping ability and extremely long arms to his advantage.  He did most of his damage in the first half since he was in foul trouble for most of the second period.  The one thing he didn't do well is shoot, missing most of his threes and blowing some close-in shots.  Still, it didn't decrease his aggressiveness one bit, as went to the boards again and again.  He also was in the passing lanes, picking up a couple of steals and disrupting EA's offense.  Mike was a big part of Duke's early lead, as he got the steal that started an early break, found Boozer on a dunk, hit a three and got a tip-in.  He later rebounded his own missed free throw and tossed it to Jason for a three.  One gets the sense that Dunleavy is still testing his limits, seeing what works and what doesn't.  I would love to see him match up against a bigger, stronger player to see what happens.  Coach K is doing a great job of making sure that he doesn't wind up in too many defensive mismatches and is instead using him to create havoc.  Offensively, Mike is a matchup nightmare.  Once his shot starts falling a bit more regularly, it will be very difficult to stop him.  He has a wide array of pet shots and moves and they seem to expand with each game.  Mike is not quite at the level of Boozer or Williams--they have a better understanding of their roles and their own abilities.  Mike simply needs time to reach that level.   

** Jones: 'tay was a bit quiet early on, just trying to fit in with the rest of his teammates.  It's clear that he wanted to hammer down a dunk to establish himself with his home crowd, but it took a while for that to develop. Instead, he simply played superb defense and hit the boards hard.   There was one time an EA player was trying to post him up, used a spin move but was met by Dahntay motion for motion.  The shot was awkward and didn't fall. What Jones brings to this team became very clear early on when he flew in from out of nowhere to grab a rebound and lay it in.  He has absolutely crazy ups, playing in the tradition of Robert Brickey, Brian Davis, Grant Hill and Corey Maggette.  While his shot is hot-and-cold, he did sink a nice pull-up jumper from 15' feet and later nailed a three from the corner.  In the second half, he hammered down an alley-oop jam but got caught slapping the backboard.  But his true play of the game was his jumping several feet and blocking a shot cleanly and to his own player.  It came from out of the blue, stunning his opponent.  Dahntay's aggressiveness, quickness and leaping ability, combined with his tenacious defense and servicable jumper, make him a unique weapon for Duke this year.  I'd like to see him take more opponents off the dribble and continue to get to the foul line.     

** Williams: Jason can basically score whenever he feels like it in any way he wants.  If you look up "irresistable force" in an encyclopdia, you'll see his picture next to it.  And the best part is that he did it as part  of the offense.  The team did a great job getting him the ball when he spotted up for threes, and he rewarded them by sinking 5-9 from the bonus stripe.  Off the dribble, he was simply unstoppable, driving to the basket at will.  Winn was helpless in trying to stop him because Jason is just too strong.  Jason also pressured the ball a bit (though he mostly left that task to Duhon and Ewing), getting a couple of big steals that led to scores.  Jason did a nice job in finding Boozer down low and Duhon on the wing.  EA didn't bother to pressure him much, which essentially gave him a free pass.  And he took advantage of it.  It's inspiring to see a player as talented as Jason work within a team concept, and it's what makes him a great player.    

** Duhon:  Chris guarded Staples for much of the game, limiting the ex-Hoo's open looks.  Chris was busy playing defense and setting up others in the early going, but when he decided to start shooting, he didn't hesitate.  He sank a 25' three that had to make Chris Collins proud, then sank another shot right after that.  He struggled a bit from three from then on, but contributed in other ways.  Chris was listed with 6 turnovers, but a number came on blown alley-oop passes--errors of commission that didn't really hurt the team.  He and Jason were simply magical together, with Chris mostly deferring to Jason but stepping up when he sensed a need.  His baseline dunk was a big highlight.    

** Sanders:  Casey had trouble getting into the flow of things in the first half.  Duhon tried to find him on an alley-oop but threw it too high, and Casey seemed a bit intimidated by the seven foot Will Cunningham at times.  He was going to the boards hard and ended up with 8 total (4 offensive).  Sanders relaxed in the second half and used his assets  (unbelievable quickness and leaping ability) to make an impact.  He actually drove to the basket and powered his way up, scoring and getting fouled. He then attacked the offensive glass for a tip in, and his turn-around jumper was a thing of beauty.  He also blocked a couple of shots and redirected them for Duke.  While EA wasn't exactly looking to draw fouls on the inside, Casey still did avoid getting any fouls at all.  Considering his problems with fakes and such last year, this was a nice accomplishment.  His biggest difficulty came in help-side defense, something he'll have to work on all year.  But this is something that all three big men will have to improve, not just him.        

** Horvath:  Nick played pretty well in his thirteen minutes.  First the negatives: he can't really handle the ball and lost it a few times in the lane when he tried to put it on the floor.  He airballed a couple of three point attempts and bricked a couple of more.  The good news is that he's much, much stronger and very aggressive.  He overplayed the lanes to get a couple of steals and went hard to the boards.  Nick got a putback and was fouled, dunked on the break and did hit one three.  His form looks fine; he simply needs more practice.  His best play was a heady pass to Sanders for a jam.  Nick is much bigger and stronger, and can also leap higher.  He looked very comfortable absorbing contact in the lane but was still quite mobile.  It's clear that he's going to be a handy player this year.    

** Ewing: Dan only took one shot in the first half and was practically invisible on offense.  Defensively, he stuck close to Curtis Staples and moved his body well.  Tim Winn beat him a couple of times with some great moves. In the second half, Dan relaxed and let the game come to him, relying more on his quickness and instincts.  That resulted in a nice open-court jam, a couple of threes, and a great pass to Horvath.  Dan played over twenty minutes tonight, which will not be de rigeur for him. Still, he proved he can defend some top-level athletes and fit in with Duke's offensive juggernaut.  He won't be a star this year, but he'll definitely help.  His best defensive play came when he forced Staples to lose the ball out of bounds.  Like Duhon, he's great at leaning into players without fouling them.  Don't be surprised to see him taking a Duhon-like role this year, being reluctant to shoot but being a demon on defense.     

** Buckner: Andre has been playing very well in practice and was rewarded with some early playing time.  His job was to pressure the ball and not make any mistakes on offense, and with the exception of one awful pass the led to an EA dunk, he succeeded.  As a bonus, he went hard to the boards and got a spectacular tip-in.  I was amazed at how high up he managed to get.  

** Christensen:  Matt came in after most of the other regulars but played very well.  While never the most graceful of players, he at least looked like he could move a lot better with his knee healed up a bit.  His jump-hook in the lane was remarkably smooth and his monster rebound dunk showed off a little bit of athleticism.  More than anything, he used his size and strength very well, grabbing 4 rebounds.  He can definitely do some positive things in limited playing time.  

** Causey: Mark has the poise of a player much older than he.  His half-court steal was spectacular, and the shot he had lined up looked good but didn't fall.  He will be one of Duke's best walk-ons ever.  

** Means: Andy got in towards the end and was understandably nervous.   He was left open a couple of times and turned the ball over once.   

** Cameron Craziness:  A pretty quiet night in Cameron, all told.  The place was half empty at game time, but filled in nicely a few minutes into the game.  The big early lead made the crowd a bit mellow, though they did pick up the cheers when the team needed it.  Nate James was in attendance, and his "Nate's a bad ass" cheer had him waving to the crowd.  The crowd disapproved of the technical that Jones received after his dunk and chanted his name.  Casey and Dan Ewing also got their own cheers, along with Matt's patented "the monster's out of the cage" chant.  In attendance tonight was a pink Gorilla (the first female version of our favorite simian) and her viking companion.  Chianti Roberts fouled out for EA, and he taunted the Crazies by blowing them a kiss and refusing to sit--faking them out several times.   

Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu

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