Thorton was the gas that ran the engine tonight.
Who was Man of the Match in Duke's season-opening 77-76 win over Belmont?
JBDuke
Andre Dawkins: “People ask me if I can still shoot, and I ask them if they can still breathe. That’s kind of the same thing.”
Thorton was the gas that ran the engine tonight.
Voted for Tyler although Mason was very impressive over the whole game.
I'm off to study the box score, but I like to vote in the MOTM poll first and my vote went to Tyler Thornton.
Bob Green
Mason, baby! I thought Tyler made a lot of bad plays down the stretch to go along with his good ones.
I'll take the guy who made the winning shot
I joined the Tyler Thornton fan club tonight and Dre hit the huge bomb at the end, but to me it has to be Mason.
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”
Tough to argue with either MP2 or TT.
Mason was much better tonight but Curry hit so many big threes tonight and overall handled the point guard duty well. Still needs to improve but his shot was money.
The Terrapin Assassin
We have to at least get Thornton's name correct in the poll after a performance like that.
I went with the guy whose shot won the game for us. Dre'. If he didn't make that 3 at the end, I don't think we would have won the game, and I realize the last few seconds would have played out differently than the ultimately did had we only had a 1 point lead (instead of a 4 point lead). Curry, Mason and Tyler all played well!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Need one for each half! Mason in the first and Tyler in the second. Both guys played really well.
Glad I was wrong about this one, I thought were going to take the L...
Gotta go with Mason. Impressive showing, no silly mistakes of note. It looked like he had the instinct to jack up several threes, but checked himself - that, alone, was heartening! Good showing also by TT, our "designated winner." Heart of a lion. I think we lose without either of them coming up big. The final three was nice, but not very impressed with Dre overall. Miles didn't get much run once Mason got hot, but I'm sure he'll have his moments. The game was a stomach-churner, especially after blowing the 16-point lead. We're probably overrated at #6.
Tyler played great, Seth was very good, Andre hit a deep shot.
But Mason was the player who couldn't be stopped last night.
Great win against a tough team.
Who would have thought that Mason and Miles would have been the only players NOT to have foul trouble as the game wound down? That is a good sign!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Mason might have put up a lot of stats, but Tyler was the one who came in and saved us from self-destructing when everyone else seemed ready to just hand the game over to Belmont. For that alone, I've gotta go with Tyler. He was the man last night, without a doubt. Defensively and offensively.
You weren't wrong by much--but it was enough, thankfully. Agree totally about Mason in the first half and Tyler in the second, but in the end I went with Mason because he remained really important throughout the game, even if he wasn't quite as effective in the second half.
I'm not sure I agree with this. It's true Dre did not have an outstanding game--but the shots he took were all good ones (possible exception--one drive to the basket where he got stripped or stuffed, as I recall--I was watching on tape late at might and can't remember perfectly now), many of which were in and out or otherwise just a little bit off. And his overall intensity and defensive effort were reasonably high throughout. While I might not call it "impressive," I wouldn't call it disappointing, either. I thought it was an okay performance, and if two or three of those close threes had hit, it would have looked like a very good performance.