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Blue 69, White 43.
October 23, 2004.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
A few more clues to the puzzle that will be the 2005 season for Duke
were revealed at the Blue-White game, but there are still many more yet to
be uncovered. The junior class in general really is as improved as the
scrimmage earlier in the week hinted at. The contributions made this year
by Reggie Love and David McClure may not always be reflected on the stat
sheet, but they will help the team win. DeMarcus Nelson is a great talent
who needs to learn how to work within a team framework; his offensive
struggles led to him making some poor decisions. Foul trouble could
continue to be a problem unless Coach K finds ways to protect his players.
Overall, there is talent and balance at both ends of the floor. Shavlik
Randolph, Shelden Williams, JJ Redick and Dan Ewing are capable of 20+ point
games on any given night. Nelson will likely average in double figures as a
scorer as well. Best of all, Sean Dockery looks a lot more comfortable on
the offensive end, confidently knocking down jumpers and making better
decisions driving to the hoop. Defensively, Williams and Dockery are both
imposing forces, while Ewing is as quick as ever. More important than any
individual defensive performance is the fact that this team knows how to
play Duke-style help defense, something that will help out as Dockery
adjusts to becoming the floor leader.
Prior to the game, Final Four watches were given to the small army of
managers, the players from last year's team who were present, and then the
coaches. Coach K gave Joe Alleva a big hug, an embrace that had multiple
layers of meaning, as this was yet another affirmation of K's love for the
program. The game itself consisted of two 15 minute halves. The White team
consisted of Shavlik Randolph, Patrick Johnson, Lee Melchionni, Daniel
Ewing, DeMarcus Nelson, Ross Perkins and Joe Pagliuca. The Blue team was
manned by Shelden Williams, Reggie Love, David McClure, JJ Redick, Sean
Dockery and Tom Novick.
The game started with some offensive fireworks. McClure drew his man in
and tossed the ball back to Redick for a three. Nelson tossed a lob up to
Ewing, and Dan finished with a layup. JJ then pulled up and nailed another
three. That started a 16-3 run that put the Blue team in charge for the
rest of the game, and it was fueled by defense and rebounding. After Love
rebounded a Nelson miss, he fed McClure inside. David drove and wisely
pulled up for a Tim Duncan-style banker. Redick then picked Nelson's pocket
and threw it up ahead to Dockery for an easy layup. McClure then had another
impact play when he recovered on defense in time to cleanly block a Lee
Melchionni three. A bit later, Dockery crossed up Nelson and drove in,
dishing off to Williams for an easy dunk. That made the lead 13-2 with not
even three minutes gone by, and Blue team coach Chris Collins called a
time-out.
The White team got the ball to Randolph, who was fouled, hitting 1.
After turnovers by both teams, Love found Redick for a 10' fadeaway jumper
from the baseline--a new innovation from JJ. Later, Dockery fed JJ for a
15' fadeaway jumper in the lane, another new weapon. JJ had 10 quick points
as the lead surged to 17-5. The Blue team had a few chances to extend the
lead even more with a steal and an offensive rebound, but couldn't quite
cash it in. The White team wasn't helping their own cause with 3 straight
turnovers. Redick, now getting shadowed constantly, fed his big man for a
post-up. Nelson attacked the basket and finished with a pretty floater.
What followed was nearly three minutes of ugly basketball: Redick charging,
Williams missing 2 free throws, Melchionni rushing his shots and Redick
forcing a couple of attempts.
Finally, Dockery drove and tossed up one of his weird floaters that went
in, which seemed to revive his team's offense. Randolph finally started
getting more aggressive on the low block (Williams had kept him far away
from the basket in the early going) and slipped in with scores on a spin
move and a hook. Redick countered with a jumper and Williams posted up and
scored with a drop-step despite having Randolph and Johnson draped all over
him. The White team finally got going a bit, but they couldn't narrow the
margin because the Blue team was nailing everything.
Ewing hit a three to cut the lead to 25-14, but Redick drove and dished
to Dockery, who unhesitatingly nailed a 15' jumper. After a charge by
Randolph, Williams posted up and nailed a right-handed hook. Ewing (who
handled point guard duties for his team most of the night) found Melchionni
for a three, but McClure drove and sank a 15' jumper to counter it. Nelson
hit a three from the wing, but Williams found Redick for a three on a
relocation pass. Shav tipped in a Nelson miss and blocked a Williams shot,
but Shelden returned the favor at the other end to make the halftime score
34-22, Blue. JJ was the difference-maker, scoring 15 points. The Blue team
hit an astonishing 15 of 21 shots in the half, while White was only 8-17,
with 9 turnovers. Twelve of those 15 makes were assisted, with Redick and
Dockery both notching 4 apiece.
The Blue team stayed within range during the first four minutes of the
second half. Shav slithered in for a basket, dunked after a
Ewing
feed and then nailed a jumper. On the other end, JJ hit a 17 footer and
later passed to Shelden for a 16' jumper which he took with no hesitation.
After Shelden scored on a stickback to make the score 41-28, Ewing hit a
three to bring his team within 10. At this point, Williams and Dockery
really went to work.
Dock started things off with a 10' jumper. Love rebounded a
Randolph
miss and then Dockery fed Williams inside for a power-up basket, plus one.
Ewing drained another three to stop the bleeding, but Shelden countered that
with a nifty pass to a cutting Love.
Ewing
missed a shot that Shelden cleared, and then Dock again fed him down low for
another three point play. Shav had 3 fouls at this point, and so he had
been pulled off Williams...with predictable results. Patrick Johnson was
simply no match for him. The Blue team continued to exploit this matchup,
with Shelden scoring again after a miss by Nelson that McClure cleared.
When Love found Dockery for an open three, the rout was truly on as the Blue
team led 56-34.
Shelden stuck back 2 misses as the White team couldn't hit anything.
McClure frustrated Melchionni the whole night, blocking another shot.
Dockery ripped a rebound out of Johnson's hands and drove all the way for a
layup, and then nailed a three after JJ penetrated. Dock then dished off to
McClure inside for an easy basket to put Blue up by 29. Ewing sank a couple
of late jumpers and Melchionni hit a three late in the game, but it was too
little, too late. The White team got killed on the boards in the second
half, 20-8 and again couldn't hit anything, shooting 9-25. The Blue team
was an efficient 14-24 from the floor, with Dockery and Williams combining
for an 18-24 showing.
Player-by-Player:
** Williams: He was a bit slow to get going, mostly concentrating
on shutting down Randolph while Redick was going crazy. But he scored 16
points in the second half, mostly on confident power-ups. After a slow
start on the boards (0 in the first half), he dominated the second half,
with 5 on the offensive end (with 2 stickbacks). Throw in a couple of
blocks and 2 very heady passes for assists, and it was a strong effort. The
big problem came with Shelden picking up 4 fouls. He started to play a bit
softer on Randolph when he picked up his third, and Shav feasted as a
result. Shelden was otherwise too strong for him, especially since Shav was
operating exclusively in the post. In a real game, Shav's ability to step
outside will manifest itself more with Shelden in the low post to back him
up. Overall, Shelden continued to impress with a much more sophisticated
set of offensive tools. In addition to his usual power moves, he's become
quite comfortable with using an either-hand hook as well as spotting up for
mid-range jumpers. After missing 2 free throws early on, he nailed the
freebies on consecutive three point plays. His only remaining problem as a
player is his tendency to want to block every shot. This leads to too many
cheap fouls. Shelden has to rely more on his feet to get good positioning
in the post; simply making his man take a more awkward shot is as good as
trying to block it.
** Randolph: Shav demonstrated all of his strengths and weaknesses
in one game. His mobility is excellent and he's also upgraded his offensive
tools: short jumper, hook shot, drive, and up-and-under. He still has
trouble finishing in traffic and looked a bit more earthbound than I had
expected, though he did bang up his knee in practice on Friday. Shav had
trouble scoring against Williams in the early going and turned the ball over
several times. Defensively, he had some trouble with Shelden, though he
admittedly had very little help. The good thing about his game is that he
kept coming after a slow start, and scored from all over the court. His
ballhandling and mobility are big pluses, and he should have more of a
chance to use them with Williams patrolling the lane. Shav's defense has
also noticeably improved, taking a charge in this game. Randolph didn't
look like a superstar in this game, but he was greatly improved and quite
confident.
** Ewing: Dan is not a point guard by any stretch of the
imagination, but he did a solid job here. There was some obvious confusion
on his part on when to shoot and when to try to find others, but it wasn't
helped by the fact that the other guards weren't of much help. Dan still
managed to put up 17 points despite the fact that he had to create most of
his own shots; Redick and Dockery took turns on guarding him. Dan didn't
try to do too much and so avoided a lot of dumb turnovers, but he could have
tried to get some easier baskets for Randolph earlier in the game.
** Redick: Absolutely sensational in the first half. JJ showed off
some of his new moves, including the fadeaway and the baseline jumper. He's
in superb shape at the moment, which allowed him to take on a playmaker role
throughout the game. He had a nice rapport with Dockery, making a point of
getting him the ball on the break or when he was open for a jumper. He
missed a number of his second half shots, but he still busied himself by
finding his teammates and acting as a decoy. It's clear that he's trying to
improve his all-around play, and a night with 6 assists and 1 turnover isn't
a bad start. JJ, Shelden and Sean were the three best players on the floor,
and so it's easy to see why the Blue team won so easily.
** Dockery: A truly excellent game, both in terms of the obvious
(16 points, 8 assists, 0 turnovers) and the not-so-obvious. There was a
calmness to Sean's game that I hadn't previously seen. I think that's both
a function of maturity and the knowledge that he's going to get plenty of
minutes this year and doesn't have to worry about making mistakes. He
played his usual aggressive style of defense, making things very difficult
for Nelson in particular. Of course, he's going to have to ratchet that
down a level or 2, because he also picked up 4 fouls. Offensively, he made a
series of great decisions. Almost all of his shots came either in
transition or on wide-open attempts. The threes and layups were nice, but I
liked him hitting the mid-range jumper as well, because he's going to get
that shot all season long. His teammates need to have confidence in his
ability to shoot and feed him the ball when he's open, because Sean is much
better shooting from a stationary position than he is off the dribble.
It'll be interesting to see how Sean reacts when other teams choose to press
him.
** McClure: David is still skinny and not very quick. However, he
really understands the game. His positioning and length make up for the
fact that he's not that strong or quick, which enables him to rebound very
effectively. His timing on blocks and steals is uncanny, almost
Battier-like. As a player who clearly depends on preparation and scouting
of his opponents, he can only get better as he grows more experienced.
Offensively, he showed once again that he can finish near the basket and hit
the open mid-range jumper, though he needs to continue to improve his range
out to three. He and Love killed the White team because they did all of the
dirty work at both ends of the floor, and this is a role that needs to be
embraced on this year's team. While I don't see him guarding post players
this year, I think his defensive skills could make him an ideal player to
guard against slashing wing types. There's no question that he'll play a
lot.
** Nelson: Markie had a very rough first outing. There were
several drives he made that just fell short, and this started to not affect
his confidence so much as it made him want to be perfect on the next play.
The problem is that he clearly started thinking "I" instead of "we", which
is only natural for a player who feels like he's not playing his best. That
led to bad shots, turnovers and a player who had effectively removed himself
from the rest of the offense. The good news is that he battled hard on
defense the entire game (even if he was burned a couple of times), did a
nice job on getting fouled going to the hoop (he will live there this year),
and was active on the boards. I think with Dockery around to feed him
passes, Markie will get some easier attempts and start fitting into the flow
a bit better. He's too talented not to do well this year.
** Love: Duke's x-factor/glue player this year, Reggie made a ton
of winning plays. His strength, ability to take up a lot of space, and
maturity make him a natural to play in the post, even at just 6-4. His
aggressiveness and timing made him a nightmare to block out, as his
rebounding was a key in beating the White team so decisively. He wasn't
necessarily scoring much, but he was creating more opportunities with his
rebounding and hustle. Reggie was on the floor diving after loose balls
more than any other player, and almost always found himself in the center of
any scrums. What was unexpected was his greater basketball savvy: the way
he fed the post and moved without the ball made him more than a rebounding
specialist. There's no question that he will earn at least 10 minutes a
game this year.
** Melchionni: Lee was perhaps the most disappointing player on the
floor. The difference between his showing at the practice and this game was
that he seemed to hesitate a lot more. In practice, he let shots fly
without thinking twice. Here, he seemed a lot more self-conscious about
shooting, and that brief hesitation got 2 of his shots blocked. His team
needed him to score and he couldn't quite do it. He did have a couple of
nice assists and played a lot harder in the second half at both ends. Lee's
ability to shoot could make him a valuable asset coming off the bench, but
he must be ready to shoot as soon as he steps on the floor.
** Johnson: Patrick played an amazing 22 minutes and did a nice job
of rebounding the ball. He couldn't stop Williams and had trouble dealing
with Love on the boards. I can still see him being used as a 1 to 2 minute
stopgap in certain situations.
** Perkins, Novick, Pagliuca: Nothing much of note.
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