N&O
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ESPN
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Score | H-S |
Pix
The best of games, the worst of games: after a sensational first half, with
some truly scintillating basketball, Duke let up and let Boston College keep
dreams of an upset. After building a huge lead, it's unfortunate. Duke went
nearly 7 minutes before missing a shot, and built a 30 point lead in the first
half. The ball movement and defense were truly imposing. Duhon's
first half "fast break" layup summed it up to an extent: all alone, he
simply trotted to the basket. Didn't even bother to dunk (by the way, that was a
very impressive outlet pass by Dahntay Jones).
Maybe even more than the shooting, the passing and defense in the first half
really stuck out. Everyone was making great passes - Jones, Duhon, Boozer,
Williams, Dunleavy, and Horvath. A lot of people have overlooked Horvath,
but the kid is an extremely smart ballplayer.
Defensively, Duke kept BC in single digits for 9:55. And it's not a bad
team - there is some real talent there. At times, they had trouble just
doing really simple, basic things - Duke's D was that good in stretches.
Things just seemed to roll on in the first half, though at the end BC cut
into Duke's lead a good bit - just as they did in the second half. But
Duke pushed back and ended up with a 20 point halftime lead - surely not what
the talkative BC kids had in mind.
In the second half, BC mounted a tremendous comeback, though it wasn't enough
to close the gap completely. Still, Duke essentially gave up 20 points to BC in the
second half, and unfortunately let BC get some hope back. A few three pointers
here, a steal or two there, and it's a 5 point game with less than 5 minutes to
go.
It didn't happen, though BC did cut the lead down steadily, and it bounced
between 11 and 15 for a bit. Ultimately, though, the strategy of fouling
Jason Williams and hoping he'd miss his freebies backfired, and the hot shooting
faltered. Still, it was a valiant comeback, not least of all because Duke put on
a clinic for parts of the game and played very well against a quality
opponent.
What was very unfortunate was the disgraceful behavior of Kenny Walls, who
followed up on his poor behavior in Cameron last year by rolling and kicking
Mike Dunleavy. Here's what we said last year:
Special props to B.C., a team which was outmanned, outclassed, and in a very tough environment. They managed to keep their composure, they played with a lot of heart and passion, and earned a great deal of respect, at least until the last second of the game when Williams and Kenny Walls mixed it up a bit, Walls trying to start a fight after Williams faked several passes in his direction. It was unfortunate, but there seemed to be a fair amount of trashtalking tonight, and that was probably just part of it, and a good reason why people should consider the consequences of too much smack.
This year, we'd add this: Kenny Walls is a guy who buys into the macho ethic
too much. He loses, and seems to find his masculinity challenged, and the
only way to redeem it is through physical confrontation. That's too
bad. There's a lot more to life than that, and losing is part of life,
certainly. You have to accept it sometimes, and how you accept it is
important.
Statistically, Duke forced 21 turnovers and was outrebounded by 10.
Since we count turnovers as shots denied, that's a considerable advantage for
Duke.
Dahntay Jones hit 70% from the floor, Boozer scored 28, Chris Duhon had 7
assists, and Dunleavy had 16 points, 5 assists and 5 boards. Jason
Williams, who said after the game that he had a cold or something, scored 15
with 4 assists.