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Friday, March 16, 2007
Hard to explain Jackets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just finished all my hacking for the paper, and I’m still straining for the words to explain what happened in the United Center.
Fellas, how about a box out? Box out, anyone?
Beyond the obvious, that Tech had no business being out-rebounded by UNLV, which I already wrote plenty about for the paper, there are other ways to look at this.
When you play a 28-win team, even if it’s not from a BCS conference, and your two leading scorers give you 8 points apiece, you’re in trouble. Thaddeus Young looked like he was shot out of a cannon at the beginning of the game while missing his first three shots. “I missed the first three shots, but that didn’t take away from my game. They were a good defensive pressure team,” he said. “Down the stretch, they made better plays.”
That’s true. But Javaris Crittenton played a poor game today. Beyond going scoreless in the first half, his emotions got the best of him several times. I thought he was going to explode. Hewitt put the ball in West’s hands a little more than usual.
Javaris’ first job is to run the team, and he didn’t do that well. As former UCLA coach Steve Lavin told me for a story the other day about freshmen, pressure is one thing and it can be bad enough. But when the point guard is a freshman, and he’s prone to emotion, it can be a lethal combination.
Alade Aminu was Tech’s best player today, but when you get to the end of the season and you’re in the NCAA tournament and your best center is a guy who wasn’t even in the rotation for the first half of the season, you’re probably still a team searching for itself. Hewitt was not pleased at all with starter Ra’Sean Dickey. He played just 11 minutes, and part of that was because Aminu fouled out. Alade picked up two quickies early in the second, but the worst call was when he was whistled in the first half on the shot block. That was clean. Peacock, who was the starter at the beginning of the season, plays a little more wisely than Aminu, but is not as explosive or long.
The officiating was dubious I thought. I can remember a traveling call against Jeremis Smith that I was unsure of, one against Peacock that definitely was not, the phantom block/foul call on Aminu, and two balls right in front of me in the first half that were called out on Tech when they went out off UNLV players. Bad game for the officiating crew, and I’d say that if Tech won.
Tech didn’t lose because of the officials, though, or because UNLV hit seven more free throws. The Jackets lost because they were beaten on the boards, which never should have happened, and because Javaris didn’t run the team very well.
UNLV is going to beat Wisconsin, which will make Tech fans feel even worse.
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Unraveling at the end
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The final three minutes of the game were textbook on how to lose. Getting killed on the boards, mental mistakes leading to turnovers, no timeouts in the bank….
As a result, the Jackets are coming home. Gotta run to the postgame interviews.
First half: No offense
Say what you want about Tech’s defense on the perimeter in the first half, and it surely won’t be complimentary, but the Jackets trail by seven — a blessing, actually — because their offense was atrocious for the first 17.5 minutes or so.
The freshmen, Young and Crittenton, missed seven of their first eight combined shots and both looked like they were amped out of their minds. Crittenton finished the half furious and out of sorts.
And for a team that has out-rebounded 10 straight opponents, and looked to have an edge in that category going into this one, the Jackets were smoked on the boards for the longest time, trailing 20-13 in rebounds with a few minutes left.
In sum, Tech’s defense has been good enough to be leading this game. They’ve allowed 33 points (six of UNLV’s eight field goals made were 3-pointers) in a half. That’s not terrible.
But when you miss 14 of your first 19 shots, you’re fortunate to still be in this game.
A five-point trip pulled the Jackets back into this one, and it was all work (which has not been a problem; Tech is working hard enough, but spastically at times particularly on offense).
D’Andre Bell stuck back an offensive rebound and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but after it was batted around, Alade Aminu picked it up and stuck it back in. He was fouled, and made his. Then Mario West grabbed a defensive rebound, when the distance and was fouled. He made both to pull Tech within 31-26 with 49.9 to go. The Jackets had trailed 29-15 just moments earlier.
To win, Tech needs to score. UNLV may or may not keep hitting 3 pointers, but the Rebels can’t hang with the Jackets in the paint. Tech needs to exploit that.
