November 12, 2003.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Box Score
The best way to describe this game is
"efficient." After a somewhat
ragged first half in which some high-risk defensive sets broke down and cost Duke some
points, the Devils settled into their standard tough half-court defense and simply went
after it. Playing against a relatively small
starting lineup, Coach K went with Shelden Williams, Luol Deng, Dan Ewing, JJ Redick and
Chris Duhon. Nike coach Wild Bill Frieder had
an excellent offensive game plan that minimized their turnovers. He knew that excessive passing from side to side
or into the post would lead to turnovers and Duke fast breaks, so he used dribble
penetration to open up medium range jumpers. This
tactic worked perfectly and forced Duke to tighten up their on-ball defense and rotate
over to cover the open shooter. While the
Devils had trouble with this in the first half, they simply smothered Nike in the second. Cutting off penetration also meant that Nike had
to start taking more risks on offense, both in terms of passes (which were getting picked
off) and shots (which were being rebounded by Duke).
The result was a 43-27 rebounding edge (after Duke was up only 21-17 in the
first half) and a 17-11 turnover edge.
Duke was looking to do a few things in this
game. The first was to try out full court and
half court traps. Some of them worked, but
others failed because Nike made the right pass at the right time and no one on Duke
rotated over to cover. Duke's other goal was
to work hard on its half-court offense, especially in feeding the big men. After a tough start (Williams was 0-3 in the first
half), the post players started to get going, scoring in the halfcourt, in transition and
off the dribble. More importantly, they started to become more aggressive on the boards.
After a lethargic first half that saw Nike get 7 offensive rebounds thanks to an overall
lack of hustle, the Devils as a team committed to going harder after the ball. Moreover, Shelden & Shav held their ground
well, with Shelden blocking 5 shots and Shav doing a nice job switching from perimeter to
post. With things opening up inside thanks to
a commitment to get it to the bigs, the Devils not surprisingly were then able to get a
number of wide-open threes. If 20 threes
sounds like a lot of attempts, rest assured that virtually all of them were excellent,
open shots.
Much like last week, the game started with
Luol Deng dominating at both ends of the court. He
swished a turnaround jumper, pulled up for a three and then nailed another on a Williams
pass to give Duke an 8-2 lead. Duke started
to use a halfcourt trap to good effect, and Duhon passed to Ewing twice for scores: once
on a cut, and another on a lob. Nike Elite
was playing pretty small, with four guards playing 30+ minutes. They gave up on trying to score inside for the
most part (though former Memphis star David Vaughn has a polished turnaround baseline
jumper) and instead went to a perimeter attack. This
was a good approach to a team that was trapping, because Nike suddenly had a surfeit of
ballhandlers on the court, leading to some easy scores.
Also, Duke was not nearly aggressive enough on the boards and did a poor job
of hanging on to the ball. There were a
couple of times where a sure Duke rebound was batted out of someone's hands and led to
easy Nike scores.
Nike decided to clog the lanes a little bit
to cut off Duke's penetration, but this just opened up the perimeter. Redick and Ewing hit back-to-back threes to give
Duke an 18-6 lead just four minutes into the game. Duke
went to its reserves, with Thompson, Dockery and Randolph all entering at the same time. While Dockery did break Nike down for a layup,
the offense stalled a bit during this period, and Nike scored 5 in a row to pull with
20-14 with twelve minutes to go. Randolph
took his smaller opponents off the dribble to score inside and then picked up a loose ball
to score again. Duke got back into an
offensive rhythm when Deng reentered the game. First,
he stuck back a miss. Then he took advantage
of a screen, dribbled once while covering most of the paint thanks to his stride, and
threw down a one-handed jam in traffic. There
was no wasted motion here, just a nasty dunk that happened to be the correct play given
the situation. Williams then blocked a shot,
Deng rebounded and flung it down the court to a streaking Ewing for a score. It was a classic Duke fast break.
Once again, things bogged down a bit. Nick Horvath came into the game and missed a
couple of shots, and Nike was able to take advantage.
What Horvath did do was provide some energy that woke up a team that wasn't
hustling after the ball enough. He had a
stick back and three rebounds in just 3 minutes of play.
An energized Duke squad turned up the pressure and went on an 11-2 run. That included Duhon finding Redick on the break
and Williams going inside out to JJ for a three. Shelden
then went high-low to find Randolph inside for a dunk as Duke went big with Williams,
Randolph and Deng on the front line. A Duhon
drive with under a minute to go made it 47-32. With
six seconds left in the half, Nike had the ball and was inbounding from the sidelines. Duke went to a 4-guard lineup to guard against
open shots, but Sean Dockery unfortunately fouled his man going for the ball, putting him
on the foul line. Still, Duke led 48-34 at
the half and was very close to breaking the game open.
The Devils would have to do a better job on the boards, especially in going
after their own misses.
The second half was a standoff for the first
three minutes. Nike closed within 12 but
Ewing passed to Deng for another three. A
Redick three was sandwiched by two short Nike jumpers.
Deng drove by his man, drew an extra defender, and then had a perfect drop
off bounce pass to Williams for a layup. The
more Deng plays, the more comfortable he becomes. Duke
went back to its normal man-to-man defense, and really locked in. Ewing and Duhon switched assignments, with Ewing
playing on the ball (and completely cutting off penetration) and Duhon going off the ball,
prowling the passing lanes for tips and steals. The
experiment worked well, with Duke going on an 8-0 run.
That run consisted of two Williams stickbacks and a Duhon-to-Redick three. Shelden, after not hitting a single field goal in
the first half, had 6 quick second half points. After
a Nike three, Duke went on a game-ending 8-3 run that put them up 71-48 with thirteen
minutes to go.
That run started with Redick (driving to the
basket much more this year) hitting a circus shot runner.
Duhon then stole the ball and fed it ahead to Williams for a slam, and then
stole it again and took it in himself for a dunk. The
reserves came in, and Thompson posted up and passed to an open Randolph for a jumper. After another Nike three, Duke went on a 9-0 run
to turn it into a total blowout. Nothing
special here, just solid defense, a Duhon drive, foul shots by Randolph & Deng (who
only had 3 second half attempts), and a Duhon-to-Redick three. On the latter play, JJ used a nice pump fake to
get his man to fly by, and then hit a wide-open shot.
Duke went inside, with JJ passing to Shav for
a basket and Williams hitting his trusty turnaround jumper.
Ewing was handling the ball a bit and found Shelden inside for another
bucket. Dan then got away with a push-off and
sank a 15' baseline jumper. Redick came up
with a steal and passed ahead to Duhon, who dished to
Williams for a one-handed dunk. Ewing then picked his man's pocket and fed
it to Dockery for a score. Randolph got back into the action with a post-up and drop-step
for a score. Dockery came up with a steal and
threw a high-risk/high-reward pass to Randolph, who caught it in mid-air and threw down a
reverse dunk against his man. It was the only
play he could have made, given the position of his defender. K brought in the reserves with about three minutes
to go, and they did a credible job.
Duke had 6 second half steals and scored 14
points off of turnovers, giving up only 2. The
Devils scored 56 points in the paint and fired up the fast break to the tune of a 17-2
edge. The easy opportunities helped Duke
shoot an impressive 63% in the second half. Most
of all, Duke showed some nice balance, with four players getting between 11-12 shots and
sixth starter Randolph getting 8. Duke also
got to the foul line, though they had a shaky first half in that regard (they were 5-11
from three and the foul line!). This balance
will be crucial against big, strong teams that will try to force a slower tempo. There's no question that this team can run and
finish in a variety of ways; what must happen now is that the team most continue to build
cohesion.
Lee Melchionni did not play due to a sprained
ankle, which is not considered to be very serious. He
should be back in practice soon, however. Andy
Means is also hurt and didn't dress out. Shelden
Williams took a spill in the second half, but just had the wind knocked out of him.
** Negatives:
1. Blocking out. Duke gave up 13 offensive rebounds, many of which
came on plays where Duke was either out of position or outhustled.
2. Help defense. Nike got some easy shots when Duke simply didn't
rotate over to help a defender who overcommitted or left his man to double-team someone
else.
** Positives:
1. Transition. Duke's running game is an awesome thing to watch
when it's clicking. Duhon was the triggerman
on most of the breaks, with a number of different players finishing.
2. Unselfishness. Duhon had 8 assists, but Williams had 4 out of the
post and Ewing had 4 even as he was looking for his own shot. Seeing the big men start to really move the ball
around could be the start of this team becoming more efficient in the half court.
3. Balance.
Everyone was getting shots, while the team took 51 2-point field goal
attempts. The post and perimeter players
complemented each other well, both making the other more difficult to guard. Look for Duke to become more efficient this year
in out-of-bounds plays and end-of-half/game scenarios.
Player-by-Player:
** Williams: Shelden had a very patient, workmanlike game. He didn't panic or disappear when he only took 3
shots in the first half and missed all three, concentrating on rebounding and blocking
shots. Williams had 5 blocks in the first
half alone, and they were mostly of the "keep them in play" variety. In the second half, he just got after the ball and
fired himself up with some stickbacks. His
teammates rewarded his labors by finally getting him the ball in scoring position. Williams made it easy by running the floor, but
also used his developing turn-around jumper. Something to watch for this season is
Williams and Randolph working high-low post plays for scores. This could be particularly devastating because
both players can either go low or high. Williams
is a stronger finisher whereas Shav is better off the dribble, but both can hit the open
jumper. The only bad decision Shelden made
was taking an off-balance three instead of putting the ball on the deck in a wide-open
lane.
** Deng:
Luol was the most dominant player on the floor in spurts. When this young man gets on a roll, he's
unstoppable. He opened the game with a smooth
turnaround jumper, and then hit a couple of threes. His
move where he used a pick to get a clear lane to the basket and dunk on an out-of-position
defender was a thing of beauty. His long
wingspan makes him a nightmarish defender in Duke's pressure system; he was tipping balls
that were nowhere near him thanks to those long arms of his. Deng's unorthodox dribbling has almost a
hypnotizing effect on his opponents, because he's been able to drive on just about anyone. Coach K noted that it will take a while for Deng
to adjust because they're throwing so much information at him. He is the rare player that K will use in both
perimeter and post positions, and so will have to be aware of all of his options in a
situation and make a decision on the fly. So
far, so good.
** Ewing: Dan's maturity is really showing
as a junior. Sporadically explosive in his
first two seasons, his huge ACC Tournament showing has given him the confidence to really
take charge of this team. He's more
aggressive, making better decisions and looking to make everyone better. He and Redick
have adjusted to each other and are now looking for ways to get each other the ball. Ewing only had 1 of 4 threes, but found many other
ways to score, including short jumpers, cuts, and a lob finish. In many respects, he's the team's most versatile
player. What I mean by this is that he's the
best on-ball defender, can handle the ball, can hit the three, specializes in the medium
range jumper, can finish, moves well without the ball, hits free throws and rebounds, and
does it all without hurting other portions of his game.
He needs to continue going harder to the boards and drawing a bit more
contact.
** Redick: JJ is working on hard on
becoming more than just a shooter. He was
trying to take his man off the dribble as much as possible in order to get fouled, and
wound up hitting a really tough driving layup. What
was beautiful to watch was JJ finding ways to get open.
He never forces a shot and gets set so quickly coming off a screen. When he goes to Alaska in a couple of weeks, the
locals will see someone who is very reminiscient of Trajan Langdon. JJ also played solid defense, rarely letting his
man get in front of him. While he's not all
that quick, he can see the floor and anticipate his opponent's moves well, which helps a
lot. And of course, when he gets into any
kind of scoring rhythm, watch out. His next
step is continuing to learn how to feed the post; he did have a nice pass to Shav.
** Duhon: The team's motor again had a
slow first half (1 shot, 4 assists, a couple of bad turnovers) and a great second half (4
points, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 3 rebounds, 3 steals).
When Chris took a first-half charge, it seemed to energize him a bit. When he went off the ball defensively, he suddenly
transformed into the pest that we all knew and loved from his freshman year, the one who
tipped passes and picked pockets. Duhon was
content to set up others on the perimeter, while concentrating soley on penetration, both
to score and to distribute. To put it simply,
Duhon does not have to score a lot of points to make this an effective team, but he does
need to play great defense, take care of the ball and take the right kind of shots. With Horvath & especially Ewing stepping up as
leaders, Duhon's burden is much lighter this year.
** Randolph: Shav had 2 quick scores but was nowhere to be
found on the boards or at the defensive end. He
got tougher and tougher as the game went on, with a late-first half dunk igniting him a
bit. When he came into the game in the second
half, he immediately hit a shot and then went to work, scoring off the dribble, in
transition and in the post. His reverse dunk
was a highlight-reel play as it showed off his ups. Shav's
defense also improved as the game went on. He
struggled a bit in defending smaller, quicker players, but adjusted by keeping his hands
up while staying in front of his man. One
big key to this team is how well Randolph & Williams work together. Sometimes the two of them clog up the lane too
much and hurt Duke's flow. They both need to
be aware of spacing and should continue to look for each other whenever possible. You could see them working on that aspect of their
games in the second half.
** Dockery:
Other than his silly first half foul, Dock was pretty solid. He didn't
overpenetrate the way he sometimes does, and he hit two nice drives. As always, it's his defense that's his calling
card, and he did a great job of disrupting Nike's offensive flow. He was on the ball for much of the time but would
occasionally switch off with Duhon.
** Thompson: Big Mike had a rough
offensive game, going 0-4. That included a
couple of rushed turnaround jumpers and a baseline jumper that he shot with no confidence. Defensively, he continues to play well, using his
body to block out. His best play was
receiving the ball in the post, spotting an open Randolph, and getting him the ball. More than just a smart play, it shows that
Thompson is adjusting to the speed of the game and making good decisions quickly. While he's still a work in progress, I think Coach
K is committed to developing him. As long as
he continues to work hard on defense, everything else will follow.
** Horvath: Nick only got a couple of
minutes of play as Coach K wanted to get a long look at Thompson as well as giving
Williams & Randolph ample time to get going. Nick
missed both of his threes but immediately injected some energy into the game, mostly
thanks to his physical presence. After
Shelden was a bit slow to the ball and Shav got pushed around a couple of times, Nick
simply went in and threw some bodies around. He
scored on a tip-in and his effort presaged a big run to end the half for Duke.
** The Walk-Ons: Speaking of energy, Andy Borman, Patrick Davidson
and Patrick Johnson provided a lot of it. Johnson
stuck back a miss for a score that fired up the crowd, while Davidson missed a shot.
** Cameron Craziness: This was a much
better crowd than last week. The 7:00pm start
was a bit too early for a lot of season-ticket holders, many of whom filed in at around
7:30pm or so. The students, after some quiet
early minutes, kept up a solid level of enthusiasm. One
player who was wearing knee-high socks got a chant of "tube socks".
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