Duke won again 93-78 on Monday over the Chinese Junior National Team, and I have finally got around to looking at the game on the DVR. I came away with some positives and some negatives...let's take a look.
Positives -
Miles Plumlee -
Played well, looks like he is maturing in the two televised games. Both games he got into double figures and played with a better head on his shoulders in both games than he has in most of his Duke career. 14 pts 13 rebs is a line that Duke would love to see a lot from Miles this year.
Ryan Kelly -
The kid just looks confident right now. Understandably the Chinese team is a nice matchup for Kelly, he doesn't have to try to guard or be guarded by freak athletes. Yet, he is playing with great confidence and the variety in his offensive game is very impressive. Kelly continued looking like the most improved player on Duke Monday with another 20 pt performance.
Tyler Thornton -
2 pts doesn't seem like it would put you in the positives, but Thornton is a role player that played his role perfectly Monday. He was pestering ball handlers and getting in passing lanes on defense causing turnovers. He also was under control (unlike someone...cough RIVERS cough...) and ran the offense well when he was in.
Alex Murphy -
Didn't score a ton or really do anything amazing, but showed a lot more confidence in this game than Thursdays. He only had 6 points, but his movement with and without the ball was with more assertiveness even if the shots didn't always fall. I like what we saw from Murphy in this game and have to hope he can build off this game in Dubai and in the rest of preseason practice.
Negatives -
Austin Rivers -
Ok, we know Austin is super talented and at times this year will carry Duke. Yet, from what we've seen of Austin so far he doesn't look as polished as Kyrie Irving did last year. Kyrie played fast, but was under control, right now the same cannot be said for Rivers. Rivers again seemed to be trying to do too much, he was only credited with 2 turnovers but if you watched the game it felt more like last Thursday's game in which he had 9. I think Austin will settle down when he realizes, unlike his high school days, he doesn't have to do it all or force the action as much and can let the game come to him more. K will help with that in practice prior to the first game.
Seth Curry -
While he did start off on fire and then also caught fire in the second half, Curry disappeared in between these two portions of the game. Last year this was very much the same story, Curry would go off for 8 straight points then you would have to wait 15 minutes for him to make another play. I think Curry needs to find a way to be a more consistent contributor for Duke to be great. Like everyone on Duke this year though, he is adjusting to a new role and that will hopefully come with time.
Mason Plumlee in the 1st half -
He ended the game with 14 pts on 7-8 shooting and was very effective in the second half. But the first half and the entire game Thursday it looked like old Mason. Mason needs to go see if coach Capel has any of the pixie dust that he sprinkled on another freak athlete, Blake Griffin, while at Oklahoma.
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