MBB: Duke 84, Auburn 78 Postgame Thread

[CDu]

Metrics

HUGE win. That completely changes the resume as compared with losing all 3 of our matchups against top-10 caliber opponents. If we handle our business in the ACC, our seed will be really nice.

OFFENSE
Possessions: 62.8 (a very slow pace)
oRtg: 133.8 (144.3 adjusted; would be #1 in the country by a mile)
eFG%: 57.8% (good)
3pt%: 40.9% (good)
2pt%: 55.6% (very good)
%threes: 37.9% (balance! Auburn limits 3s, and we took the better shots in this one)
FT rate: 46.6% (easily our best of the season, not coincidental that it came with one of our most balanced offensive games)
OR%: 33.3% (okay)
TO%: 6.4% (outstanding)
a/to: 2.75 (terrific)
%assisted: 37.9% (not great, but that's what Auburn does defensively)
fast break pts: 16 (decent)

DEFENSE
dRtg: 124.3 (106.1 adjusted; would be #179 in the country - our first clunker on that end, but not surprising given the opponent)
eFG%: 53.1% (not great)
3pt%: 40.0% (not great)
2pt%: 48.7% (decent)
%threes: 39.1% (normal)
FT rate: 18.8% (excellent)
DR%: 59.5% (very bad)
TO%: 12.7% (very bad)
a/to: 2.13 (bad)
%assisted: 37.9% (solid)
stl%: 11.2% (decent)
blk%: 10.3% (2pt shots) (decent)
fast break pts: 0 (can't do better than that)

This was a bit of an unusual game in that we won by outshooting our opponent and getting to the FT line. They won the rebounding battle, and neither team turned it over much at all (not surprising, as both teams are good at avoiding turnovers). Big thanks to Evans for a monster first half as a shooter, which was probably the difference in the game. The rest of the team shot 3-14 from 3. Also big thanks to Brown for flummoxing Broome for the first half. That helped us to chase the Tigers down and get the lead.

On to ACC play!

 

[TKG]

In the 3 minute 41 second clip, above, Pearl mentions fouls 5/6 times. "Flagg lives at the foul line" "Denver(?) had several shots blocked but could not get to the foul line".

 

[ClemmonsDevil]

Counterpoint: it isn't tone policing to point out that people who want to second guess the coaches/plays/defensive strategies aren't possibly capable of knowing this information. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches even though you aren't at practice and have never actually coached big time basketball. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches and get pissed when we second guess YOU.

It is fine if this is how you experience Fandom. Just don't be fragile enough when someone points out y'all aren't experts when you make these cocksure proclamations. Make em all you want. Feel free to criticize. But then be open to criticism.

[Edit: happy to share my receipts if you PM me. I enjoy discussing this stuff. If you have receipts about your basketball knowledge, PM me.]

 

[MChambers]

Counterpoint: it isn't tone policing to point out that people who want to second guess the coaches/plays/defensive strategies aren't possibly capable of knowing this information. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches even though you aren't at practice and have never actually coached big time basketball. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches and get pissed when we second guess YOU.

It is fine if this is how you experience Fandom. Just don't be fragile enough when someone points out y'all aren't experts when you make these cocksure proclamations. Make em all you want. Feel free to criticize. But then be open to criticism.

[Edit: happy to share my receipts if you PM me. I enjoy discussing this stuff. If you have receipts about your basketball knowledge, PM me.]

Post of the month!

 

[Steven43]

Fantastic win. Isaiah Evans was massive. Cooper was clutch at the end of the game. Maliq is a great disrupter. Tyrese clutch 3 was critical. Auburn is a difficult team to put away.
Everyone needs to practice free throws
17-27 could have cost Duke the game.

I’d like to believe that you could just put an emphasis on practicing free throws and they would improve, but these guys have been shooting free throws since they were five years old. If you’re a good shooter you will make your free throws at a high rate. If not, you won’t. That’s all there is to it.

This is not a great shooting team. Free throws are going to be a problem all season long. The guys will simply have to find other ways to win, like they did last night. Yes, it’s going to make for a nerve-wracking ride, but that’s part of the fun, right?

Go Duke!

 

[phaedrus]

I’d like to believe that you could just put an emphasis on practicing free throws and they would improve, but these guys have been shooting free throws since they were five years old. If you’re a good shooter you will make your free throws at a high rate. If not, you won’t. That’s all there is to it.

This is not a great shooting team. Free throws are going to be a problem all season long. This team will simply have to find other ways to win, like they did last night. Yes, it’s going to make for a nerve-wracking ride, but that’s part of the fun, right?

Go Duke!

There's some margin for improving free throws, but it's less than many people like to believe, especially during the course of a season.

I'd quibble with one point: we are a very good shooting team, but the better all-around shooters (Kon, Evans, Proctor) are not the ones shooting most of the free throws (Flagg, Foster, James).

 

[uh_no]

It was very noticeable on TV especially for the first third of the game.

the sound on TV is typically not representative of what it sounds like in the stadium....it has far more to do with where ESPN puts mics and how it mixes them.

source: years of going to games and having people complain that the crowd doesn't sound into it on TV when in reality it's hype in cameron.

 

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Counterpoint: it isn't tone policing to point out that people who want to second guess the coaches/plays/defensive strategies aren't possibly capable of knowing this information. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches even though you aren't at practice and have never actually coached big time basketball. Y'all constantly second guess the coaches and get pissed when we second guess YOU.

It is fine if this is how you experience Fandom. Just don't be fragile enough when someone points out y'all aren't experts when you make these cocksure proclamations. Make em all you want. Feel free to criticize. But then be open to criticism.

[Edit: happy to share my receipts if you PM me. I enjoy discussing this stuff. If you have receipts about your basketball knowledge, PM me.]

Well said. Could we put this post at the top of every post-game thread and in-game chat?

 

[ManManFan]

Great Win!! First post here. I think my favorite plays were Tyrese’s deep 3 as the shot clock expired, Sion’s dunk and 1 on the fast break, and coopers runner in the lane after almost falling down. We were very solid down the stretch and able make the couple key plays to keep the lead (mostly) at 2 or 3 possessions in the last 10 min. Definitely have some things to work on before March (half court offense, not getting behind early) but the team has great potential and they are physically and mentally resilient.

 

[susmeg]

Such an amazing night in Cameron last night. Felt like vintage Cameron when Isaiah was going on his first half run. I was sitting next to an Auburn season ticket holder and he told me “our stadium gets loud, but not like this. This place literally vibrates” and “coming to Cameron Indoor has always been a bucket list item.” There were too many Auburn fans in the building for my liking, but at least the ones around me were all very respectful. Gained respect for their fanbase (even if they are known to be pretty insufferable on social media).

This game was played at such a high level and I’m so proud Duke was able to pull out the victory. Auburn was slowly cutting into Duke’s second half lead and there were moments where it felt like Duke might show they were young again. But those losses against Kentucky and Kansas paid dividends and they were able to execute the stretch and pull of an amazing victory.

Not a lot of time for the team to celebrate though. Need to close out an important week with a road victory at Louisville on Sunday!

Go Duke!

Such a great game!! Agree that there was too much orange in the stands .. and at the beginning there was a lot of jumping up, shouting out, and booing Duke players (at least in our section). That lasted about 10 mins … once they realized they weren’t going to blow Duke out, the Auburn fans in our section settled down and the ones right around us were really nice. I was a bit stunned to find how much some had paid for tickets— young guy next to me said he’d paid $670 for the ticket and $400 for fees. He flew in yesterday morning. Was flying home (Birmingham) today.

 

[ClemmonsDevil]

Well said. Could we put this post at the top of every post-game thread and in-game chat?

I have an idea. What if the closet GMs/basketball coaching savants had a thread where they could post about what plays should be run on offense. What defensive strategy the coaches should employ. Like not kidding at all. Y'all make one of those threads for football and basketball. Y'all have a minutes thread. And a wordle thread. You have an awful announcers thread where you can complain about Bilas. I don't participate in those threads. Don't read em. Not interested. At all. Please do that. Again. Not kidding. I would love to not have to read what y'all think about this stuff. And y'all would love not to read me telling you that you aren't qualified. Please someone make these threads.

 

[rifraf]

Assuming we know better or more than the coach is silly, but so is assuming that any decision made by a coach is inherently the correct one simply because they have the experience/knowledge is also silly. K would be the first to tell you he wasn't perfect and made mistakes, decisions are not above reproach simply because the coach made it.

I have an idea. What if the closet GMs/basketball coaching savants had a thread where they could post about what plays should be run on offense. What defensive strategy the coaches should employ. Like not kidding at all. Y'all make one of those threads for football and basketball. Y'all have a minutes thread. And a wordle thread. You have an awful announcers thread where you can complain about Bilas. I don't participate in those threads. Don't read em. Not interested. At all. Please do that. Again. Not kidding. I would love to not have to read what y'all think about this stuff. And y'all would love not to read me telling you that you aren't qualified. Please someone make these threads.

Every game needs 3 threads: [Good Vibes Only] [Negative Vibes Only] [Everyone Else]!

 

[CDu]

My expanded thoughts:

1. I'm too old for this (late night game) stuff. And I'm not even old! I guess it's soon to be time for me to move to the West. Hope my family is okay with that.

2. We got to see peak Evans impact in the first half. He got tons of good, clean, open looks, and he just knocked them down repeatedly. He doesn't bring much else to the table right now, but when he's shooting well, he's a game-changer. And in the first half last night, he was definitely on. And it was crucial.

3. I keep saying it, but he just keeps making it relevant. Brown is just such a menace on defense. He totally flustered Broome in that first half. Broome scored just 1 point against Brown in the first half, and Brown got into Broome's head so much that Broome committed a silly foul on Brown 30 feet away from the basket in the second half (trying to play Brown the way Brown played him). Pearl did an excellent job of scheming Broome some downhill looks in the second half, taking advantage of Duke's approach to hedging ball screens. It allowed Broome to get separation from Brown, and it was the only way he scored on Brown. Whenever Broome got an iso look against Brown, Brown won the battle. I've never seen a backup be a legit candidate for DPoY, but I feel like Brown should get that kind of love. He's just so disruptive.

4. The guards played better in this one. Foster in particular was much more active than usual. James and Proctor had more typical contributions. It's really important that the guards all contribute so that we don't have to have so much burden on Flagg and Knueppel.

5. Not a great game from Maluach. He's seeming more to be a situational big at this stage. It's great that we have Brown to allow some flexibility as Maluach develops. There is a ton of upside with the big freshman, but it's very much a work in progress.

6. Auburn made a clear effort to prevent Knueppel from getting scoring chances. He's clearly not a "give him the ball and let him cook" type of player. But he still had a really solid game in a reduced role. Didn't force shots, and didn't make mistakes. Thankfully Evans was able to go ham in the first half and get the offense flowing.

7. Just as importantly (and probably relatedly), I thought we did a better job of getting easy-ish looks in this one. Foster did a great job of getting to the rim. Not surprisingly, our offensive efficiency skyrocketed.

8. Just really really happy with the win. It completely changes the path forward to have that marquee win in house. We were clearly as good as Kansas and Kentucky, but losing both of those games left us without the positive resume. Getting this win solidifies us in that class of "reasonable 1 seed" candidates. As long as we maintain our status through ACC play and the eventual game against Illinois, we should be in very good shape for tourney seeding.

 

[kshepinthehouse]

Such a great game!! Agree that there was too much orange in the stands .. and at the beginning there was a lot of jumping up, shouting out, and booing Duke players (at least in our section). That lasted about 10 mins … once they realized they weren’t going to blow Duke out, the Auburn fans in our section settled down and the ones right around us were really nice. I was a bit stunned to find how much some had paid for tickets— young guy next to me said he’d paid $670 for the ticket and $400 for fees. He flew in yesterday morning. Was flying home (Birmingham) today.

When will Auburn ever come to Cameron again? Especially with such a talented team. I’m not surprised

 

[orrnot]

the sound on TV is typically not representative of what it sounds like in the stadium....it has far more to do with where ESPN puts mics and how it mixes them.

source: years of going to games and having people complain that the crowd doesn't sound into it on TV when in reality it's hype in cameron.

I don’t disagree with your concept, but my experience in the arena was similar to what the original poster perceived remotely. Last night’s early going was the strongest opposition presence I ever recall in Cameron, though Arizona last year was in the ballpark. Credit the StubHub ticket revolution, which is particularly well suited to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities granted to large fan bases.

 

[AZLA]

Captain Obvious says: Evans deserves to start from time to time. Duke benefits from using a deep bench. Duke fans should expect slow starts. Until they don’t. Then we should see some blow out games. Need to figure out how to come screaming out of the gates immediately at the tip-off.

This game was a great win overall. But there was also a good lesson learned — when Auburn turned up the half court pressure with the press and nearly tied the game — Duke will no doubt learn how to handle the pressure in the future so they can maintain large leads (hopefully).

Crazies showed up.

 

[azzefkram]

Metrics

HUGE win. That completely changes the resume as compared with losing all 3 of our matchups against top-10 caliber opponents. If we handle our business in the ACC, our seed will be really nice.

OFFENSE
Possessions: 62.8 (a very slow pace)
oRtg: 133.8 (144.3 adjusted; would be #1 in the country by a mile)
eFG%: 57.8% (good)
3pt%: 40.9% (good)
2pt%: 55.6% (very good)
%threes: 37.9% (balance! Auburn limits 3s, and we took the better shots in this one)
FT rate: 46.6% (easily our best of the season, not coincidental that it came with one of our most balanced offensive games)
OR%: 33.3% (okay)
TO%: 6.4% (outstanding)
a/to: 2.75 (terrific)
%assisted: 37.9% (not great, but that's what Auburn does defensively)
fast break pts: 16 (decent)

DEFENSE
dRtg: 124.3 (106.1 adjusted; would be #179 in the country - our first clunker on that end, but not surprising given the opponent)
eFG%: 53.1% (not great)
3pt%: 40.0% (not great)
2pt%: 48.7% (decent)
%threes: 39.1% (normal)
FT rate: 18.8% (excellent)
DR%: 59.5% (very bad)
TO%: 12.7% (very bad)
a/to: 2.13 (bad)
%assisted: 37.9% (solid)
stl%: 11.2% (decent)
blk%: 10.3% (2pt shots) (decent)
fast break pts: 0 (can't do better than that)

This was a bit of an unusual game in that we won by outshooting our opponent and getting to the FT line. They won the rebounding battle, and neither team turned it over much at all (not surprising, as both teams are good at avoiding turnovers). Big thanks to Evans for a monster first half as a shooter, which was probably the difference in the game. The rest of the team shot 3-14 from 3. Also big thanks to Brown for flummoxing Broome for the first half. That helped us to chase the Tigers down and get the lead.

On to ACC play!

I am surprised by the slow pace. Towards the end of the first half, I thought the pace was hectic.

 

[CDu]

I am surprised by the slow pace. Towards the end of the first half, I thought the pace was hectic.

Surprisingly, the pace was faster in the second half than the first (though only by ~1 possession). It was a high-energy game, with a LOT of made baskets, which probably made it feel like a faster pace than usual. But the possessions each ate up a lot of the clock.

 

[ClemmonsDevil]

Assuming we know better or more than the coach is silly, but so is assuming that any decision made by a coach is inherently the correct one simply because they have the experience/knowledge is also silly. K would be the first to tell you he wasn't perfect and made mistakes, decisions are not above reproach simply because the coach made it.



Every game needs 3 threads: [Good Vibes Only] [Negative Vibes Only] [Everyone Else]!

Hard agree. I just detest having to read doctors, lawyers and business folks opine about it. There are people capable of offering critical appraisal. They just ain't here.

 

[scottdude8]

I have an idea. What if the closet GMs/basketball coaching savants had a thread where they could post about what plays should be run on offense. What defensive strategy the coaches should employ. Like not kidding at all. Y'all make one of those threads for football and basketball. Y'all have a minutes thread. And a wordle thread. You have an awful announcers thread where you can complain about Bilas. I don't participate in those threads. Don't read em. Not interested. At all. Please do that. Again. Not kidding. I would love to not have to read what y'all think about this stuff. And y'all would love not to read me telling you that you aren't qualified. Please someone make these threads.

Done This is a fantastic idea, and hopefully it can help us regain a bit of the friendly atmosphere that has been endangered by the anxious start to the season.