The difficulties that Duke has suffered the past
week have little to do with physical exhaustion and everything to do with emotional
exhaustion. Intense national scrutiny over JJ
Redick, officiating controversies and the intense feeling of being the hunted have worn
down Duke's bread-and-butter: intense pressure defense.
One can talk about missed shots and a lack of scoring balance, but the
bottom line is that Duke isn't forcing turnovers, forcing bad shots and doing its usual
job of disrupting opposing defenses. It's not
just that an opponent is taking what Duke is giving them, like in games against Indiana
and NC State. The Devils right now are not
doing a good enough job of consistently shutting down any aspect of their opponents'
offense for 40 minutes. Both UNC and FSU shot
close to break-even from three, just enough to open things up inside.
More tellingly, Duke had only 3 steals
against FSU for a total of 11 turnovers. Against
UNC, the two squads both had 16 turnovers, not good enough to win when the Heels have a
significant rebounding advantage. Defense has always set up offense at Duke. One reason why Coach K likes to run 2-3 motion when
Duke has a lead is to give his players a rest on the offensive end. Rest on offense and play hard on defense on every
possession. Now, Duke has had segments over
the last couple of games where they played full-out and had some great runs, but they've
been unable to sustain it. As I mentioned
earlier, I think this has nothing to do with fatigue and everything to do with the team
just plain not having fun out there. At this
point, executing the defense should not be an issue. The
regulars who are playing at least know where to be on the floor, even if it took them a
long time to get to this point. The issue is
wanting to play defense for forty minutes against highly motivated opponents.
The loss to FSU was one where Duke ran into a
desperate opponent on Senior Day that had some matchup advantages against the Devils. FSU rode an early wave of emotion (with some
players hitting unlikely shots) to take a big lead, while JJ was misfiring early and often
and Shelden Williams was turning the ball over. Duke pulled within 5 with nine minutes
left in the half, but went nearly six minutes with just 4 points, allowing the 'noles to
take a double-digit lead once again. Eight late points from Redick and threes from Lee
Melchionni and DeMarcus Nelson drew Duke within 3 at the half, but a comeback built on the
longball is not one that's easily sustainable.
Duke went to Williams early and often in the second
half, and he not only scored 13 points in the first nine minutes of the half, he rebounded
and blocked shots like a fiend and even had an assist to Nelson for a three. Duke's
offense started to click with plays like Josh McRoberts throwing a full-court outlet to
Williams for a dunk. Then foul trouble started
to mount for Duke's frontcourt. I am not
especially interested in debating the legitimacy of the calls because that accomplishes
nothing, and players should be able to figure out how a game is being called. That said, Duke put FSU on the foul line very early
in the second half and had to hold out Shel and Josh for long periods of time. Predictably, the Seminoles mounted a comeback after
Duke went up by as much as 7 and the two teams traded leads.
Redick hit some huge shots but missed some down the stretch. Some key plays occurred when Melchionni missed the
front end of a one-and-one with Duke holding a narrow lead, and Nelson doing the same with
a chance to tie the game up. Making those free
throws was the difference between being able to defend a narrow lead and being forced to
hit tough shots from behind.
The UNC game was a mirror image to the FSU
contest. Duke was at home for its Senior Day,
certainly the most intense ceremony like this in Cameron since 2001. The game was hyped to high heaven, with most of it
falling on Redick. He rode that early wave of emotion and scored 9 quick points on some
tough shots to push Duke out to an early 11 point lead. The Heels never panicked and
slowly chipped away as other players took shots and missed them for Duke. Lee was doing everything possible to help his team,
hitting huge shots and hustling on defense. Pheraps
his best play of the year came when he dove halfway across the floor to come up with a
steal and then flipped a pass to Nelson for dunk while laying on his back. He hit a three late in the half to give Duke a
lead.
Duke went back and forth with the Heels in
the second half. UNC was playing excellent
defense for the most part, with Marcus Ginyard gluing himself to Redick for much of the
half. After the Heels took a 3 point lead,
there was a nice sequence where Redick hit a three, a Williams block led to McRoberts
finding Nelson in transition, and then Williams hit a spinning jumper to give Duke a 4
point lead. When UNC responded with an 8-0
run, that shook the Devils a bit. That
sequence and the rest of the half was UNC's season in microcosm, where they started off
disorganized and painfully young, grew resilient and then grew together into a formidable
force. Spending a season under the radar
allowed them to make mistakes and grow together as a team, and it's paying off now.
Still, this is Duke, and they never go away
quietly. After Williams drew Duke to within 8
with four minutes to go, Tyler Hansbrough hit an improbable three with the shot clock
running down, and then UNC went up by 12 with three minutes left. Duke stormed back with Nelson driving and dishing
to Williams for a dunk. Nelson hit 2 threes
and Lee got a tip-in to pull Duke within 77-74 with over a minute left. But the Devils couldn't get any shots to land down
the stretch when needed, and UNC hit their free throws.
It is instructive to note that both the 1994
and 2001 teams lost their senior days. Indeed,
the 2001 team seemed to be in much worse shape, given that Carlos Boozer was hurt. Right now, the team will get nearly a week off, a
period that can only help recharge their batteries, not to mention help Sean Dockery
continue to heal from his hand injury. There's nothing wrong with this team that can't be
fixed with time. It's obvious that this is not a powerhouse Duke team that rolls over
opponents. With a couple of exceptions (Texas
being one of them), this team builds small leads and finds ways to nurse them home.
They've done it against some of the toughest teams in the country. Opponents have found ways to use Duke's
"Dukeness" against them in recent weeks. Duke's been a target for teams wanting
to get into the NCAA tournament, a scapegoat for ignorant conspiracy theorists and a
convenient target for the media. Duke now
needs to use its image to fight back, with swagger, with a sense of knowing that they will
win no matter what, with a sense of team & camaraderie where everyone loves playing
with each other and doesn't want to let anyone down. The Devils haven't had much to play
for since beating Georgia Tech. Now they have
two championships to play for. Let's see how
badly they want them.
Rob's Archive
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