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Duke 86,
Fairfield 58.
January 2, 2003.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
During the holidays, I was only able to hear the NC A&T game and watch the
Dayton game on TV, so my commentary on them will be brief. Actually, before
commenting on those games, allow me to back up for a moment. Throughout the
Krzyzewski era at Duke, his teams usually took on clear identities fairly
early on. His 80's teams won with intense defense, an active running game,
and extensive use of motion. His early 90's teams used more sets but were
feared for their slashing wings. The late 90's teams started to become more
half-court oriented, with the three becoming a more important weapon. In the
Jason Williams era, Duke ran very little motion, instead using a flexible
series of sets designed to take advantage of the unique talents of the
team's stars. Above all else, Coach K prized versatility. Not only did this
make individual players more difficult to guard (especially those that could
switch between perimeter and post), it meant that K could shorten his bench
while still being able to account for nearly any situation. The ideal K team
used 7 to 8 players, but no more. This allowed a group to maintain a certain
rhythm, even if it did leave Duke vulnerable to certain problems. Of course,
having a lot of players leave early made the bench a bit shorter than anyone
was comfortable with, especially since so many young players weren't ready
to contribute.
When K uses a lot
of different players, it usually means that there's not a lot of seperation
between the individual team members. In the last fifteen years or so, there
were three teams that used deep benches: the 1991 team, the 1995 team and
the 1998 team. The 1991 team was a young one with a large freshman class,
the 1995 team had lost Grant Hill and was breaking in three new guards,
while the 1998 squad was breaking in the Brand/Battier/Burgess/Avery class,
trying to meld them with several veterans. All three went nine or ten deep
for long stretches of the year, with wildly varying degrees of success. The
1991 team became a tough unit where everyone understood their roles and went
along because it was helping the team win--though Duke did lose two players
to transfer after that year. 1995 was Duke's nightmare season, when Coach K
was out with an injury. It was also one of Duke's least versatile teams; I
think Coach K underestimated what Grant Hill was doing for his program.
Without Hill's all-around talents, Duke struggled on offense but especially
on defense.
It was one of Coach K's least versatile teams. The 1998 team was bursting
with talent, but its youth proved to be its eventual undoing. A tighter
rotation in 1999 would lead to one of Duke's greatest seasons ever. Right
now, this team is nine or ten deep--which means that it's as unsettled as
any Duke I've ever seen. There are a number of players with impressive
skills, but there are no Dunleavy-types that can play any number of
positions. With this team, it's easy to see who's a "one", a "two", a
"three" etc--which is quite unusual for a Duke team. The team has speed, but
its identity is not of a run-n-gun crew that attacks the basket from the
wings. There is size, but the bigs are quite young and are having trouble
getting good position and hence easy shots in the post. There are shooters,
but this isn't a team that's fallen in love with the jumper. They pressure
the ball and generate turnovers, but this isn't a team that excels at
running traps or throwing on a press.
Duke's schedule is
not as bad as some have been saying; I think both Dayton and Ohio
State
were very solid wins, for example. But in some ways, going to
England has hurt certain aspects of the
team's development. While getting in early games against good competition
made a number of things clear at the outset, the lighter schedule
(especially in December) made it difficult for this group to develop a
rhythm. I think this especially hurt the team's young big men, who needed
more than just practice to bolster their confidence. A quick look at the NC
A&T game revealed that problem. Despite a 34 point victory, this was one of
the worst performances by a Duke team in quite some time. The big men
combined for 7-20 shooting from the floor, but were unbelievably bad in the
first half. Simply put, they seemed like they had no clue as to how the
finish. They picked up stupid fouls and turned the ball over too much. It
got so bad that Coach K actually started five guards in the second half,
including little-used Lee Melchionni! That is what's known as a Message.
The Dayton game
featured a more inspired effort from the Duke defense in particular. Duke
pressured the Flyers into a number of first half turnovers and converted on
them, both by attacking the basket and from long range, as JJ Redick
exploded for 15 first half points. But as it's happened in so many games,
Duke took a big lead and frittered it away. The same thing has happened,
game after game. Duke would go on a run that left their opponents reeling.
Then the Devils would either go soft on defense or start to commit dumb
fouls that were a result of a lack of focus. Regardless, Duke's opponent
would start to develop a rhythm on offense, something that they lacked when
Duke was pressuring them consistently. A team with a few capable scorers
could do a lot of damage against Duke in a short period of time when their
defense broke down. Eventually, Duke would stop scoring and turn the ball
over or take bad shots, and the opponent would go on a real run. As if in a
nightmare, the foe would cut the lead to single digits and come within 6-8
points.
Interestingly,
Duke has yet to completely collapse in such a situation. The defense
suddenly would tighten and work as a unit. Shots were carefully taken and
someone would step up to hit a clutch jumper. Then the team would hit their
free throws down the stretch. Against Dayton, Duke was up 62-41 with
thirteen minutes left. The Flyers then went on a 26-11 run, coming within
73-67 with three minutes to go. JJ Redick hit a fadeaway 15' jumper to open
up a bit of room, and Duke took care of business down the stretch. Which
brings us to the Fairfield game. Coach K has been trying to bring along the
team's young big men, but hasn't been afraid to send them messages. Shelden
Williams simply wasn't in the right place at the right time in the Dayton
game--he didn't come into the game ready to make an impact, as Coach Dawkins
would say. But he has both the body and the tools to make an impact now, and
so Coach K gave him a chance in this game to see if he was ready. Casey
Sanders is still not a smooth or polished player, but he continues to bring
energy, experience and improved rebounding to the game. Shav Randolph was
solid against Dayton
and earned a start next to Casey. JJ Redick, Dan Ewing, and Chris Duhon
formed a three guard lineup.
Both teams were
rather anxious to start the game. Duke missed their first five shots while
Fairfield missed their first eight--and many of those were tap-ins. Finally,
Shav spun in for a layup, but that was immediately matched by a Fairfield
score. The starting five was supplanted by Horvath, Williams, Jones and
Dockery, with only Duhon staying in. Dahntay picked up a steal and started a
break. Duhon led the break and dished to Shelden, who slammed it home on the
run. That play seemed to energize him for the rest of the game.
Fairfield calmly
fought back from a 6-2 deficit, with 6-10 Deng Gai hitting a three. The
Stags took a 7-6 lead with over thirteen minutes left, aided in part by an
awkward shot by Sean Dockery. Jones kept things close by hitting free throws
until Duke went on a run that gave them breathing room until they broke the
game wide open later on. Dock got a steal and dished to Duhon for a layup.
Ewing drove in for a layup after a Fairfield miss. Dahntay some more foul
shots. Shav slammed home a Jones miss. Finally, Redick capped off the 12-2
run with a JJ Redick three that gave Duke a 20-11 lead with eleven minutes
left in the half.
After that, things
were almost entirely even for the rest of the half. Duke actually pushed
their lead up to 12 or 13 points. JJ was on fired, using a classic Thomas
Hill "bunny-hop" jump-stop for a 15' jumper. Then he hit another 15 jumper
coming off a curl, Trajan Langdon-style. A Jones three that gave Duke a
27-15 lead seemed to indicate that Duke was ready to blow the Stags away,
but they pulled to within 30-19 with six minutes to go in the half. A
Williams tip-in after a Duhon miss and another Redick three made it 35-19. A
6-1 Fairfield run (aided by a bad shot by Shav followed up by a frustration
foul) was stopped when Williams first hit a couple of free throws and then
finished a Duhon feed. The Stags ran off 6 straight points, thanks in part
to silly Duke fouls and a bad shot by Dockery, who also had a late turnover.
Interestingly, Coach K kept him out there as Duke was holding the ball for
the final shot. He handled the ball for a bit, then dished off to Duhon, who
immediately found Redick spotting up. JJ nailed the three to account for his
13 first half points, giving Duke a 43-31 lead. That boost is what Duke
needed, and they came out ready in the second half.
Duke came out with
a different starting lineup in the second half, which has not been unusual
this season. Replacing Ewing
(ineffective with 2 fouls and only 2 points) and
Randolph (also with 2 fouls) were Jones
and Williams. Dahntay immediately scored on a 5' "bunny-hop" play, which was
nice to see. Dahntay did a nice job of attacking the basket without
recklessly running over people. He then outran the Fairfield defense to
score in transition. Duke was trying to stretch the Stags in transition and
it was working, as Duhon found Redick on the same play right after that.
Dahntay continued to pile up points with a 10' pull-up jumper that gave Duke
a 52-36 lead with fifteen minutes to go.
The teams traded
scores over the next few minutes, with the Devils getting most of their
points at the line, though a nice Williams jam on a Dockery feed fired
everyone up. With eight minutes to go, Duke was only up by 14. They were in
control, but one solid Fairfield
run could have put Duke in danger. Instead, Shelden rebounded a Sanders miss
and Dahntay threw down a Duhon lob to fire up the crowd. That was part of 7
straight points from Jones--he hit 2 more free throws and then hit a three
to make it 70-49 with about five minutes left. Duke poured it on with some
spectacular plays. First came Dockery bringing the ball up under heavy
pressure. He hesitated, then used a 360 degree spin move to literally fake
his defender out of his shoe. He zipped it to Shav, who buried a three to
complete the gem. JJ didn't quite match it with a drive and a scoop shot,
but that score, giving Duke a 76-51 lead with three minutes left, was enough
to get K to clear his bench.
Mike Thompson got
in and did rather well, scoring 5 points and grabbing 2 boards in just five
minutes. Lee Melchionni also hit a three on a Pat Johnson feed. After
hitting just 10 of 28 two pointers in the first half, Duke was 10-19 from
two in the second, thanks mostly to Jones, Williams & Redick. And once
again, Duke did a nice job of getting to the foul line and converting 73% of
them.
Duke has a lot of
players, each of whom can do one or two things well. The key is finding a
way to have the right combination of players on the floor at the right time,
which has been the biggest reason why Duke has been so inconsistent this
year. Duhon fixes a lot of messes with his passing and defense, but he isn't
a consistent offensive threat. Randolph can score but is still learning how
to play defense. Williams can rebound but is learning how to play offense in
the post. Jones can drive but is an inconsistent shooter. You get the
picture. I think the team will get better simply by getting used to each
other and finding a rhythm on the floor. It's a hungry group, but the
lessons will not come easy. A team is starting to form, bit by bit.
** Negatives:
1. Fouls. Fouls indicate that a player was out of position
defensively, and this is what plagued Shav Randolph and Shelden Williams.
Casey Sanders picked up his pair of fouls on moving screens, one of which
disrupted a three that was going in.
2. Full court pressure. Duke tried to trap and press, but didn't do a
great job of it for the most part. In fact, Fairfield was able to use a
number of quick-hitters once they got past the initial wave of pressure.
3. Shot selection. Duke put up a number of awkward-looking runners
and floaters. Duhon and Dockery were both 1-6 on such shots, while Jones
only started to become successful in this game by changing his approach.
** Positives:
1. Rebounding. Sanders, Randolph and Williams combined for 24
rebounds, with Shelden getting a double-double. Duke was +9 for the game
against some tall and strong players.
2. Halfcourt defense. Once Duke stopped fouling, the defense was
excellent. More than anything, you could see the forwards actually talking
to each other and helping each other well. Casey was especially quick on his
feet and stopped several drives. He and Shelden proved to be a formidable
duo when they allowed someone to drive in, as they trapped and surrounded a
couple of players, helping to achieve Duke's 11 blocked shots.
3. Getting to the line. Shelden and Dahntay got special praise here.
Shelden has learned to use his enormous strength to power in down low
without being called for offensive fouls. Dahntay used his combination of
strength and quickness to go hard to the hoop every time.
Player-by-Player:
** Sanders: Offensively, this was another awkward game for Casey,
which is disappointing considering his solid showing against Dayton. It was
also unfortunate that he only hit 1 of his four foul shots. On the other
hand, he was outstanding on defense. In addition to his 4 blocks (a couple
of which he was able to keep in play), he had 8 strong boards. Most of
Casey's offense is gravy anyway--seeing him stay out of foul trouble, grab
rebounds and intimidate the other team was a welcome sight. His one other
sin--he left his feet on a shot fake 15 feet from the basket.
** Randolph: Not a bad game overall for Shav. He had 6 boards in the
first half, including that spectacular rebound dunk. His defense was a bit
suspect, as players were able to go around him a few times, though he did
make up for it with his 3 blocks. He also forced a held ball. I suspect he
was held out of the second half starting lineup for defensive reasons.
Hopefully he'll continue to fight for a starting role.
** Redick: JJ missed his first three shots, then made his next five,
including the half-ending three. I loved seeing him come off curls for quick
shots and around high screens for threes. Most of all, I loved seeing him
use the jump-stop, a highly underrated move. This is especially true for
guys that aren't that quick--it gives a dead-eye shooter all the time he
needs to get his shot off. In the second half, JJ's three wasn't falling but
he was scoring in transition and off the dribble. The most impressive thing
about JJ is his confidence level--he will continue to hunt his shot and take
good ones no matter what's happening, and he loves to take clutch shots.
** Ewing: After starting the year as Duke's most consistent offensive
player, Dan has flat-out disappeared in the last couple of games. Picking up
a couple of quick fouls didn't help his cause, especially when Dahntay
picked up his game. On this team, you have to stay sharp at all times or you
will sit. Dan is too good a player to fall that far in the rotation, but he
has to hunt good shots.
** Duhon: As a playmaker, Chris was superb with 10 assists. As a
defender, Chris was his usual pesky self. As a scorer...ay yi yi. His
"giant-killer" floater was not dropping, nor was his hurried-looking three.
Even a wide-open look didn't drop. To his credit, he kept his head in the
game. He was key in pushing the tempo, essentially running Fairfield out of
the gym. Duke really needs Chris to pick up his scoring, however.
** Horvath: Nick was pretty quiet, though he did pick up 3 fouls. He
had a couple of nice boards in the first half, but didn't even get near the
low post on offense. With everyone else playing better, it's no surprise
that he was only in there for 7 minutes.
** Williams: That early dunk for Shelden seemed to spark his
confidence and his patience. In the first half, he sparkled at both ends of
the court. He had 4 boards, including a tip-in. He had a steal and started a
break that led to Dockery scoring and getting fouled. Shelden started moving
well without the basket, scoring on a couple of cuts on Duhon feeds. Shelden
also started passing the ball out of double teams instead of trying to force
his way through the defense using brute strength (where he would usually
turn the ball over). Now he's starting to use a two-man game, where he will
post someone up, pass it out to the wing, get the ball back after
repositioning himself, and either turning to score or passing it back out to
an open shooter if the defense collapses on him. Williams also did a nice
job from the foul line, where he may well find himself living in the near
future.
** Jones: In the first half, Dahntay was just 1-6 from the floor but
6-6 from the line as he attacked the basket and grabbed rebounds. In
particular, he did a nice job backing up the big men when they blocked
shots, being in position to grab that rebound. His shot selection was
questionable at times when he put up those weak runners, but he corrected
that in the second half with strong drives where he would finish with
jumpers. Hitting a couple of threes opened that up for him. Dahntay was
playing his usual sticky defense and took a charge. One thing to remember is
that Dahntay is not Grant Hill or Mike Dunleavy. He is not a playmaker, not
a versatile guy who can do it all. What he does is go hard to the hole, and
Duke doesn't have a lot of guys like that on its roster--especially players
who can finish. As long as Dahntay is not ridiculously selfish (like in the
A&T game), Duke can survive the occasional bad shot from him. As an aside,
the one time he was actively looking for someone, he nearly cut off Casey
Sanders' legs. Casey thought Dahntay was going to throw a lob, but Dahntay
instead threw a bounce pass near his feet.
** Dockery: I love Sean's energy and defensive intensity. I love the
way he sets up his teammates. However, I hate his ugly, ugly shot. The
floaters he was throwing up were clanging off the rim. Sean can hit jumpers,
and I wish he'd either take some or go all the way to the rim. Putting that
aside, his defense was tremendous. He took a charge and also forced another
offensive foul when he was elbowed by the ballhandler. Sean did a nice job
late in the first half after he had made several mistakes, using his
quickness to set up that three by Redick. And of course, the move he put on
the Fairfield guard to fake him out of his shoe was hilarious. If Dock can
be more patient on offense, he will be a fine all-around player.
** Thompson: Big Mike had a good showing, muscling in for a rebound
dunk and finishing a pass from Melchionni. He's looking a lot more relaxed.
I still don't think he'll be able to do much this year, but he will
contribute down the line.
** Melchionni: Lee hit a three, a steal and that smart pass to
Thompson. He is absolutely fearless and certainly likes to shoot. His shot
isn't as sweet-looking as Redick's, but it goes in.
** Johnson: Pat set up Melchionni's three.
** Buckner: Andre ran the team down the stretch, grabbing a board.
** Cameron Craziness: Contrary to the fears of many, Cameron was
nearly full despite the odd starting time (3:30 pm
on a Thursday afternoon).
Fairfield coach Tim O'Toole and assistant Roshown McLeod were received
warmly by the Duke coaching staff. In the house was Luol Deng, along with
Manute Bol, a friend of the Deng family. Playing for Fairfield was Luol's
brother Ajou (in only his second game of the year) and cousin Deng Gai (who
played quite well). Shelden and Casey in particular earned special cheers
from the crowd. |
