February 26, 2003.
Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
This was, by and large,
an extremely satisfying win against a talented but struggling team. Still,
Tech has lost only once at home this year, to league-leading Wake Forest.
While this Duke team has started to round into form, they are certainly not
above losing on the road, even to teams with mediocre records. That loss to
FSU was as good a teacher as any other this year for Duke. What was
especially rewarding about this game was seeing Duke's team offense catch up
with its team defense. Duke had 30 field goals and 17 of them came by way
of assist--a much better ratio than in recent weeks. That's especially true
because only 5 of those assists came from playmaker Chris Duhon. The rest
of the team has started to move the ball around a lot better and the result
has been more wide-open shots and easy looks. Part of that has also come
from the defense. Duke's ability to generate more open-court turnovers has
fueled their fast break once again.
Another interesting
aspect of this game was that it's really becoming obvious what the rotation
is for this team, at last. Depth is generally a good thing, especially over
a long season, but Coach K's teams function best when there are 7-8 players
with well-defined roles getting the lion's share of minutes. One of the
problems that this team has had was instability, both in terms of the
starting lineup and how much each man would play. This was because no one
was really separating themselves from the pack on a consistent basis. Even
a lot of the veterans on the team struggled at various points during the
season, unaccustomed to having so much responsibility after the Big Three of
Boozer, Williams & Dunleavy moved on. In the past few games, things have
started to stabilize a bit. The starting frontcourt of Sanders & Williams
has provided a tremendous defensive and rebounding punch. Dahntay Jones has
been Duke's steadiest contributor since January. JJ Redick can go off on
anyone, anytime, while Chris Duhon has started to relax a bit at point and
is taking the ball to the hoop more often. Off the bench, Dan Ewing has
proven that he is instant offense, while Nick Horvath is an effort player
and leader. Those seven players are the core of the team right now. In
addition, Shav Randolph and Sean Dockery are the combined eighth man, each
coming in and playing situational minutes. In games against small teams,
Dock will come in and chase around guards, trying to force turnovers. In
games against skilled foes that don't rely on physical play, Shav is a
natural to block shots and score inside. Of course, foul trouble also will
get them into the game, and both are capable of contributing.
The first ten minutes or
so of the Tech game were rather ugly and sloppy for both teams. JJ Redick
quickly scored on a three from Duhon, but the Devils went scoreless for the
next two minutes. When Casey Sanders quickly went out with two fouls, there
was some cause for concern. With tough guy Ed Nelson and superb rookie
Chris Bosh manning the post, there was potential for Tech to dominate Duke
down low. Indeed, Nelson scored 4 of Tech's first 5 points, putting them up
5-3. Jones then reversed Duke's trend of 6 straight misses by pulling up
for a 15' jumper. This came after he had missed 3 straight shots to start
the game. Tech went on top again briefly but Shav hit a free throw to tie
the game at 7. After a Tech turnover, Dockery found JJ for another three.
Tech went back on top thanks to 4 straight points by Nelson. Coach K was
displeased with the overall defensive effort, saying that Nelson was playing
harder than any of his own players. Nick Horvath went into the game and
helped fix that.
Jones went strong to the
hoop to put Duke back on top, 12-11. Horvath then rebounded a Tech miss,
then boarded a Jones miss and was fouled. He hit both freebies, but what
was more important was the way he showed his teammates what kind of effort
was needed at that point. Nelson scored again on a stickback to keep Tech
close, but Duke then embarked on an 8-0 run that would give them the room
they needed to keep Tech at bay. It began with another effort play, this
time from Shelden Williams, getting a stickback. Sanders reentered the game
as fired up as I've ever seen him. He came up with a steal and threw it down
to Dahntay for a dunk. After a Williams steal (keying on Nelson), Casey
boarded a Jones miss and posted up his man for a score. Duke forced Nelson
further out, and he missed a jumper as a result. Duhon took advantage by
going baseline and scoring on a runner. With over six minutes to go in the
half, Duke now led 22-13.
Tech came back with 4
straight points but missed a chance to get a 3 point play. Shelden struck
back for Duke with a free throw and then a layup on a nifty post move after
Bosh had cut the score to 23-19. In the span of less than a minute, Tech
would miss 3 straight shots and Duke would make 3 straight, and the game
would effectively be over. That's because 2 of the shots were
Duhon-to-Redick threes, and the third was a Jones basket after a long
rebound from Redick. The Jackets shaved the lead to 10 with a couple of
quick jumpers, but a JJ free throw and Williams dropstep for a hoop restored
it to 13 with over a minute left. Tech countered a Jones drive with a BJ
Elder jumper, but Duke had the ball and a chance for a final shot. The ball
wound up in JJ Redick's hands with time running down on the shot clock.
With no shot open, he instead drove. Again, he didn't have a good look at
the basket off the dribble, but he spotted Jones wide open in the corner.
He made the pass, Dahntay hit the three, and Duke went into the half with an
impressive 41-26 lead. What was great about this play is that it's one that
JJ wouldn't necessarily have been able to make a month ago. Now he knew to
look for an open teammate in the corner, that teams would respect him enough
to send an extra man after him. He and Jones finished the half with 13
points apiece. Jones shared top rebounding billing with Williams at 4. Duke
forced 8 Tech turnovers and committed only 6 on their end. Most impressive
of all was Duke's shooting: 15-28 for 54% and 5-8 from three.
Duke came out looking to
put Tech away quickly. They started with a Duhon-to-Sanders dunk and then a
reverse rebound dunk by Williams. In less than a minute, Duke had increased
its lead to 19. Tech fought back with 6 straight points, thanks to improved
defense with a steal and a block by Bosh. Jones then drove baseline, saw a
man blocking his path and dished back for an open 18' jumper by...Casey!
This is a shot that he makes all the time in practice but rarely takes
during game action. That put Duke back up by 15 at 47-32 and served to fire
up the team. Duhon atoned for an earlier turnover and miss by pulling up
for a three. That would be the first of 4 straight threes for Duke.
Tech was furiously
trying to mount a comeback, scoring 10 points in just two minutes. They
were getting steals, getting stickbacks and flying around the court.
Unfortunately for them, JJ Redick twice drove into the lane and twice found
an open man for a three: Dan Ewing. This was after Duhon had found him for
a three. The Jackets were only able to shave 1 point off Duke's 18 point
lead, despite playing their best offensive ball of the game. Still, they
hung in there, coming within 15 points once again at 61-46 with about ten
minutes to go. JJ again drove the lane, but this time kept going along the
baseline. When he reached the three point line, he suddenly whirled around
and fired up a three that sizzled the nets.
Bosh countered with a
three of his own, but that was to be Tech's last gasp. Duke put up a
suffocating 9-0 run over the next four minutes, stalling any chance that
Tech had of making a run. Casey started it with a dunk on a Duhon feed.
Ewing then drove and found JJ for a three and then went hard to the rack
with an impressive stuff. After another Tech miss, Jones went full court
and scored, missing a chance at a three point play. After a Tech basket,
Duhon hit a floater and then Dockery found Ewing for a 15' jumper, making
the score 77-51 with two minutes left. A couple of late turnovers led to
Tech scoring the last 7 points of the game, but it was too little, too late
for the Jackets.
Until the last couple of
minutes, Duke was sensational on offense. From the 8 minute mark until the
2 minute mark, Duke hit 6 straight field goals with 1 turnover. Tech simply
couldn't compete with that level of efficiency. Duke was 58% from the floor
in the half and outrebounded a big Tech front line, 36-30. They kept the
Jackets off the offensive boards in the second half and kept them off the
line. For a team that couldn't beat anyone on the road a couple of weeks
ago, this was a solid, even routine, win.
** Negatives:
1. Valuing the ball.
Duhon in particular was a bit sloppy with the ball, but it didn't wind up
hurting Duke that much because their transition defense was so good.
2. Foul shooting.
This also could have hurt Duke in a different type of game; 6-13 is just
plain ugly. Shelden has the potential to be a very good foul shooter, but
it's clear that he just loses concentration at times. 2-6 from the line
will only encourages opponents to hack at him.
3. Blocking out.
Duke had trouble keeping Nelson off the boards, and he really hurt Duke with
8 second chance points. Once Duke started doing a better job, they were
able to really extend their lead.
** Positives:
1. Team defense.
Duke did a fantastic job at limiting Tech's penetration. Duhon in particular
stymied Jack all day long. High-risers like Muhammad were held in check,
while shooters like Elder were covered tightly. It was a great case of
knowing your opponent and shutting down most of their options.
2. Balance. At
first, it may look like a Duke win bought at the three point line. But look
closer. Duke only took 17 threes in the game, but made 11 of them. Most of
Duke's 30 baskets came off the dribble, in transition or from offensive
rebounds. Duke's shooting opened up the lane and the post, but early
success from the post and the lane allowed open shots to arise.
3. Unselfishness.
The key to Duke's 11 threes was that 9 of them came off superb passes. This
meant that all the shooter had to do was catch and release. If Duke can get
more of these shots, rather than forcing up shots off the dribble, they will
hit a lot more threes.
Player-by-Player:
** Sanders: After
his two early fouls and blowing another play (earning the ire of JJ and
Coach K), Casey made no excuses and worked harder. The result was a key
steal and a post-up that helped establish Duke's first serious lead. In the
second half, he announced his presence with dunks and a crucial long
jumper. He only picked up 1 foul in his last fifteen minutes of play,
despite having to guard Bosh inside. This was a great effort from a player
who hasn't always recovered well from poor starts. Casey is now mature
enough to understand when he's not playing his best and knows how to correct
it. This is a huge asset for a young team that will make mistakes.
** Williams:
Another solid game from Shelden. He had some trouble blocking out Nelson,
and developed early foul difficulties, but he fought through both to put up
another double-double and block 3 shots. Shelden is also playing nice
denial defense when he ventures out into the lanes; his long arms enable him
to tip and steal some passes. He simply needs to learn how to do this
without fouling. Offensively, he's looking very comfortable with his
back-to-the-basket moves, especially against other big men. His ability to
attack the offensive boards is one of his best qualities and will be very
important for Duke down the line.
** Jones: Dahntay
shook off a bad start to really hurt Tech with his mid-range game and
ability to attack off the dribble. He went hard to the boards and played
excellent post defense as well. That three he hit at the end of the first
half was an absolute killer. And of course, he's still Duke's best finisher
in transition. So long as he provides a rock-solid base, the rest of the
team will follow his lead at both ends of the floor.
** Redick: That
Redick kid is a great playmaker who might be able to hit a few jump shots
down the line! Seriously, this was a very mature game for JJ. He was
red-hot from three in the first half. Rather than take this as a license to
shoot every time he had the ball, he instead used it as a sort of team
weapon by driving past clinging defenders and dishing it to open shooters.
He didn't try to get too fancy with the ball, instead aggressively driving
and making a simple pass to a man he knew would be open. In that way, his
ability as a shooter helped make his teammates better. That said, his
quick-turnaround three was a work of art, an in-your-face shot if there ever
was one. JJ also had a steal and took a charge, noting that he had to find
other ways to help the team other than shooting. He did both in this game.
** Duhon: Chris
did a fine job on his cousin Jack and was fairly aggressive in looking for
his shot at key moments. The only negative here were his 6 turnovers. A
lot of them were late and when Duke had a big lead, but they were careless.
Still, considering how well he's taken care of the ball recently and Duke's
big lead, it wasn't a huge factor in the game.
** Horvath: Nick
came in and immediately provided a lot of energy. His offensive rebound
sparked the team's energy level and made them work harder at both ends.
He's not putting up a ton of impressive numbers, but there's no question
that his intensity is a big boost for the team.
** Ewing: Dan took
over on the offensive end in the second half when Tech was trying to limit
Jones & Redick's touches as much as possible. All that meant was that
they'd be looking to feed Ewing, who can fill up a basket quite quickly.
Having struggled a bit from the perimeter lately, it was nice to see him
sink 3-3 threes in the half and take it to the hoop with authority. I'd
love to see him score in double digits in every game, proving that Duke has
offensive depth.
** Randolph: Shave
played briefly in the first half but struggled with the ball at times. I'm
certain that he has another big game or two in him, and that we'll see it
down the line this year.
** Dockery: Dock
was there to spell Duhon tonight and thus didn't play a lot. He did have
one nice assist and a steal in limited action.
** Buckner/Melchionni/Thompson:
Just an end of game cameo for these three.
Reported by Rob Clough, tmc@duke.edu
Rob's Archive
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