Well, the best thing one can say about this week is
that it's over. Neither win this week was exactly of restaurant quality, but the Devils
got it done on the road against two rugged opponents.
Duke did it despite subpar showings from JJ Redick, perhaps feeling the
pressure of his scoring record chase. I do
think that other teams focusing on shutting him down to the exclusion of all else had more
than a little to do with his difficulties getting good looks. Furthermore, even when he
did get open shots, he tended to rush them a bit. Despite all that, he still managed 22
against Georgia Tech and 11 against Temple. His
very presence on the court forced Duke's opponents to account for his scoring ability, and
that helped his teammates get better looks at the basket.
Lee Melchionni noted that the team didn't mind
carrying Redick for a little while, considering how much JJ's been carrying the Devils
this season. Duke won both games because of
the dominant play of Shelden Williams, the steady inside presence of Josh McRoberts, and
the all-around contributions of DeMarcus Nelson. The
Devils would truly be in the soup without Nelson's scoring, rebounding and defense.
Duke looked to be in good shape against the Yellow
Jackets in the early going, with 2 quick baskets by Williams and a long jumper from Redick
giving Duke an early 6-2 lead. Tech went on a
10-0 run over four minutes, as Duke missed 4 shots and turned the ball over once. The Jackets were using dribble penetration to set
up short jumpers in the lane. In particular,
they were exploiting a height & quickness mismatch with Greg Paulus to get open looks,
and no one was switching off quickly enough to help him out.
 The Devils ran the floor and got easy hoops for
Williams and Melchionni, but a three and 2 foul shots gave the Jackets a 7 point lead. Duke went on a 6-2 run with easy dunks for
McRoberts and Williams and a fast break connection from Redick to Nelson. The Jackets countered with an easy score off
penetration and a basket off a Nelson turnover to make it 23-16. Every time Duke got close, the Jackets responded by
forcing a Duke mistake.
The lead hovered between 2 and 8 points for the
rest of the half. With three minutes to go, McRoberts cut the lead to 31-25 with a
post-up, but Tech pushed it to 8 after another drive for a short basket. The Devils
finally made a move on defense to draw closer. First,
Nelson blew by for a layup. Then McRoberts
forced a steal and passed to Melchionni. Lee
blew the layup, but Josh stuck it back for a score. Nelson then had a steal and layup to
make it 33-31. Tech scored, but Nelson drained
a three on a McRoberts pass to cut the lead to 1. Redick had a shot blocked and Paulus
missed a layup, and Tech took advantage as Zam Frederick scored 4 late points.
The Devils had advantages in turnovers, points in
the paint and only trailed in rebounding by 5. The
fact that Tech shot an absurd 71% (17-24) is what gave them a lead. This is a young Tech team, one that lost all of its
experienced players who helped lead the team to the NCAA finals two years ago and the ACC
tournament finals last season. Still, this
group has shown that there's a lot of skill and quickness.
Their lack of experience and understanding how to win has crippled their
season, as they've surrendered lead after lead late in their many losses. So despite the fact that Duke played poor defense
in the first half, they had to know that if they hung in there, they'd have an opportunity
to win if they clamped down.
Duke faced a further liability in this game in that
Sean Dockery wasn't close to 100%. He had
injured his hand against Miami, which absolutely ruined his ability to shoot. Duke will certainly need him to recover for their
long-term chances, but he at least still played his tough brand of defense. That said, Coach K started the surging Nelson in
the second half. The two teams traded scores
to start the half, but a 6-0 Tech run (aided by a technical foul called on Coach K) gave
the Jackets a 47-36 run--their biggest of the game.
The Jackets had three chances to extend that
lead, but Duke dodged the bullet. Redick missed a three (he was just 2-11 in the first
half) but Williams snagged the rebound and scored on a three point play. That triggered an 11-0 Duke run. On the next play, the Jackets coughed up the ball
and Redick found Williams for an easy dunk. Williams
got a steal and stuck back a Nelson miss with a hook shot.
Williams then rebounded a miss and Paulus hit him for a dunk. The easy shots that Tech was hitting early on were
been rushed by Duke's ferocious defense, and Redick capped the run by hitting 2 foul
shots.
Tech temporarily righted itself with 6 straight
points, but the Devils shocked the Jackets with a 13-0 run.
It began when McRoberts tipped in a Redick miss. Williams then powered up
and was fouled, hitting 2 freebies. McRoberts
dunked home another Redick miss to tie the game at 53.
Redick stepped just inside the three point line and buried a jumper to give
Duke a lead. Williams came up with another
steal and Paulus hit Redick for a huge three. The
Jackets then foolishly fouled Redick, who nailed both to give Duke a stunning 60-53 lead
with under eight minutes to go.
Georgia Tech pulled with 60-58 with about five
minutes left, but they came apart over the next four minutes. The Devils went on a 9-0 run, with Redick scoring 5 points. Tech
scored 6 points in the last minute, but it wasn't enough, with Duke taking care of the
ball and Redick hitting free throws. Duke held
the Jackets to just 36% in the second half and got to the foul line. Redick pushed through
his shooting problems to score 22 points, most at the foul line. Williams abused Tech inside for 26 and 11. McRoberts had 10 and 5, but also an opportunistic 4
steals. He also showed off his dribbling
skills, going behind his back twice in the open floor when Tech was crowding him. Williams
had a spectacular play when Duke was up 3 down the stretch. He
had the ball, faked to Redick, and drew the 2 defenders over to JJ. Shelden then used that
hard fake to drive directly to the hoop for a dunk that demoralized the Jackets.
That set up a trip to Philly and a meeting with a
dangerous Temple club. The Owls were 15-10 and
needed a big win to bolster their NCAA chances. With
top-flight scoring point guard Mardy Collins (who tortured Duke in Cameron last season),
the Owls and their matchup zone would be unpleasant to play. Interestingly, Temple coach
John Chaney abandoned his standard 1-3-1 matchup and went to a box-and-one on Redick. In the second half, they also collapsed on Williams
inside, giving Paulus wide-open looks and Nelson easy lanes to the basket. While this
wasn't a pretty win, it was encouraging because Temple made Duke's role players beat them,
and those players did indeed step up. This was encouraging for Paulus in particular, who
is the most up-and-down of all Duke's regulars. After
getting torched defensively by Georgia Tech, it was good to see him make so many winning
plays against Temple, including some key free throws.
Temple's 1-3-1 got shredded in the early going by
Williams. He hit a short jumper, 2 foul shots,
a fast break basket and then slipped behind the defense and scored on a pass from Dockery. McRoberts had a tip-in and Williams scored again to
put Duke up 12-6. Duke was using its usual
strategy of extending its defense out to the three point line, leaving Shelden alone
against the big men (a good strategy since Temple's posts aren't scorers) and to hedge
against penetrators. That matchup didn't work
out so well for Duke, as Collins was able to shoot over Paulus using his height advantage. The Owls went on a 10-3 run to take a narrow
lead--but it would be their last.
Redick scored after a Melchionni steal. Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and fired a
pass to McRoberts for a dunk. Temple kept it
close, partly because of some difficulties Duke had in attacking the zone, and partly
because the Devils weren't converting at the line. Williams
continued to stay active, hitting 3 free throws and hitting a hook to break 2 ties. Duke couldn't hit anything from long range, with
Redick going 0-4, Dockery 0-2 and Melchionni 0-2. Finally,
Nelson and Paulus sank a couple of threes late in the half to put Duke up by 7. Temple fought to within 33-32, but Paulus stepped
up with assists to Melchionni and Williams. It
was a good thing, because his 5 turnovers in the half hurt his team. Temple has a rep as a rough team, and they lived up
to by fouling Duke 13 times--and making them count. Williams
was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring 18 of Duke's 38 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.
Sean Dockery had a nice impact to start the second
half, throwing a lob to McRoberts for a reverse dunk, finding Redick in the corner for a
three, and then scoring in transition after a McRoberts steal. When Paulus nailed a three, the Devils suddenly led
48-35. Temple clamped down inside, surrounding
Williams with 2 men at all times. That
included the Chaney-described "goon", Nehemiah Ingram. The man who ended a St Joseph's player's career
with an intentional foul gave Williams a couple of hard fouls, but Shelden eventually
fouled him out with 0 points (including a crucial second half miss) and 0 rebounds.
 Still, Temple's double-team on Williams and chaser
on Redick took both of those players out of the equation.
Williams scored on a Paulus feed six minutes into the half and wouldn't have
another field goal the rest of the game. Redick
would only get 4 field goal attempts, scoring on a drive.
The Owls cut the lead to 50-41, but Nelson attacked the basket for 4
straight foul shots, and Redick had that drive to make it 56-41 with eleven minutes to go.
The Owls picked up the pace by scoring 5 in a
row, but Paulus stroked an open three to give Duke the 59-46 lead. Temple went on a 10-2 run as Collins was scoring
left and right. The Owls had a chance to cut
the lead to 3, but Ingram blew the basket. When
teams let Duke off the hook, they usually exploit those opportunities. Paulus found Nelson inside, then hit 2
pressure-packed free throws. Williams hit a
foul shot with four minutes to go that put Duke up by 10 and made things tough for the
Owls.
The rest of the game was free throws all the way
down, as Williams blocked shots and the Devils held off the Owls. Redick broke Dickie Hemric's scoring record with 2
free throws (fitting!), but he looked completely exhausted by the box-and-one. He even missed a couple of free throws down the
stretch.
Duke has really evolved from a team that was 2
horses and a bunch of ponies to a true team. While
Williams took over the game (as per the plan), McRoberts made a number of heady plays at
both ends and scored 10 points, Paulus had 13 points including several key shots, and
Nelson was huge with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Dockery
had his best half in a while, with 3 points and 3 assists in the second half.
The dependable low-post scoring of Williams led
Duke to the wins, but Nelson's play has been getting more and more impressive. He still makes the occasional error (like dribbling
through the middle of a zone), but his aggressiveness around the basket, shooting,
rebounding and defense have made him the kind of versatile swingman that Coach K has been
using from the very beginning of his career to fix whatever's wrong. He still doesn't have the lift that he showed early
in the season and so can't quite slash to the basket the way that he'd like, but he's
overcoming that with his smarts and his power.
The heartening thing about these 2 wins is that
they came against 2 very physical teams. Paul
Hewitt's Tech teams have been trying to beat Duke up since he took the team over, but Duke
has adjusted well to their chippiness. Beating a physical and disciplined team like Temple
was also a significant achievement, especially considering how motivated they were to beat
Duke. The Devils are now in the homestretch of
the regular season against two very good teams. FSU
nearly beat Duke in in Durham and they desperately need this win after losing to Virginia
Tech. And of course, UNC is playing excellent
basketball, zooming all the way up to second place. Duke
needs to continue to get Dockery and Nelson healthy, rest Redick a little if at all
possible, and keep everyone else in good shape. This
week was the first sign that any defense could slow down Redick this year, and Duke must
continue to find ways to get him easier looks at the hoop.
The Devils continue to hold a tight grip on a #1 seed overall, and have to
keep winning to get that coveted Atlanta slot.
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