02-15-2014, 08:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-15-2014, 08:55 PM by Viking_Guy.)
If Johnny Dawkins survives this season, he can thank Anthony Brown.
In a game that really featured little to no consistent offense, Brown's career day (and more importantly career first half) made that survival a little more likely, as he scored 30 points on 8-10 shooting (4-6 3pt) and 10-11 FTs. On a day when Chasson Randle had an awful first 35 minutes, and Dwight Powell was his typical inconsistent self, that was all that made the Stanford win possible.
First, the good. In the first half, Brown was 6-6 from the field, with 20 points (the rest of the team had 19). But Stanford led 39-24 on the strength of a really good defensive effort, especially with Randle picking up two absolutely silly fouls (he again ran into a three-point shooter after the ball had left his hands on the first) and relegating himself to the bench for most of the latter part of the half. But the Allen brothers and Robbie Lemons subbed in, and while the freshmen played a bit out of control, they had two steals and a couple of wonderful moments, including a breakaway dunk by Malcolm that was a play I've not seen out of a Stanford guard in a LONG time.
They held Lacy, who torched da Bares for 39 on Thursday, to 2 first half points on FTs, and he picked up his third foul with more than 3 minutes left in the half. And other than Lacy, the Cougars don't really have a lot of offense. Especially because they play a very deliberate style, they were not going to get back into the game in a hurry. And when Stanford converted a turnover in the last 6 seconds into a length of the court drive by Randle to make it a 15 point lead, they looked good.
And of course, then they did what Dawkins' teams seem to do - completely lost focus at halftime. To a certain extent defensively, and almost entirely offensively. With a 15 point lead, they seemed content to make one pass and hoist up contested jump shots - even when they got offensive rebounds and had an entire 35 seconds to run offense. Josh Huestis fading toward the end line from 18 feet with 20 seconds left on the shot clock early in the second half, for example.
But when Powell hit a layup to keep the lead at 15 after the under 16 timeout, you started to think they might be able to put this one out of reach. Heck, maybe they started to think that, too.
Because that was the only field goal they would hit in the opening 11+ minutes of the second half.
Huestis taking a three 9 seconds after Lacy made his first field goal to cut it to 12. Securing the o-board and Nastic shooting early again. Nastic being called for an offensive hooking foul on a spin move, again, early in the clock. And Stanford not moving their feet on defense with as much purpose, and starting to reach out and grab, putting WSU in the bonus with 14 minutes left in the game and saddling Randle with his third foul with 15 minutes left. Oh, and not driving inside meant that the Coug's foul troubles (both Lacy and Longrus had 3 before halftime) didn't really come back to bite them.
This was where WSU's deliberate pace really killed them - every possession was 25 or 30 seconds, and while Stanford couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, the clock continued to wind down rapidly, even as the Cougs slowly crawled back into the game, cutting it to 5, after which Dwight Powell (shooting under 30% from 3 point range) hoisted one up from beyond the arc with 20 seconds on the clock at the 9 minute mark. At that point, Stanford had been outscored 18-8 in the second half.
Then Brown, who had not scored a point (and had only taken one shot), drove to the hoop in transition, and a minute later, Huestis crashed in from the opposite wing on a missed Brown 3 to jam it home to restore a 10 point lead. Brown made another layup on a beautiful back door feed to extend it to 12.
After a Que Johnson 3 cut it to 9 came a sequence that completely typifies this Stanford team's approach - you've got a 9 point lead against a team that doesn't score well with just about 5 minutes left. After Robbie Lemons missed a 3, Dwight Powell ran down the offensive board in the left corner and handed it to Randle. You have a full shot clock, but have two defenders (yours and Powell's) between you and the basket.
Naturally you don't bring the ball out and run some offense, but instead launch yourself at the basket immediately and get called for a push off.
It came down to Brown, who calmly converted four straight free throws, in the process fouling out Junior Longrus. Randle converted an and-1 opportunity off a beautiful feed from Powell for the backbreaker with under 3 minutes left, but really, that was the first time he showed up in an important way in the second half. And Chasson again seemed to have issues hitting his FTs down the stretch, twice going 1-2 as the Cougs started fouling.
All in all, hats off to Brown. A nice bump of energy by the Allen twins and Lemons. But Powell and especially Randle were again almost non-factors, and Nastic played his normal 15 minutes or so. If it weren't for Huestis, Stanford would've been outrebounded by an awful rebounding team.
On the positive side, they held serve, winning a game that, as the commentators said, may not have been a must-win, but certainly was a "can't afford to lose."Â Great game by Brown (although he again had a few turnovers of the "What rock-hard substance are your hands made of" variety), and a strong bid by the Allens for more playing time (their long arms were very active at the top of a Stanford zone, with a lot of tips and a couple of nice steals.)Â
On the negative, Stanford again showed that they will go long periods of complete offensive ineptitude without either an on-court leader taking charge or a meaningful intervention from the bench. 11.5 minutes, 1 field goal. Against a team that's really not that great of a defense, and whom you led by 15 points, to let them crawl back into a game that you HAD to win.
Now another "can't afford to lose" game against the Trojans on Thursday.
VG
In a game that really featured little to no consistent offense, Brown's career day (and more importantly career first half) made that survival a little more likely, as he scored 30 points on 8-10 shooting (4-6 3pt) and 10-11 FTs. On a day when Chasson Randle had an awful first 35 minutes, and Dwight Powell was his typical inconsistent self, that was all that made the Stanford win possible.
First, the good. In the first half, Brown was 6-6 from the field, with 20 points (the rest of the team had 19). But Stanford led 39-24 on the strength of a really good defensive effort, especially with Randle picking up two absolutely silly fouls (he again ran into a three-point shooter after the ball had left his hands on the first) and relegating himself to the bench for most of the latter part of the half. But the Allen brothers and Robbie Lemons subbed in, and while the freshmen played a bit out of control, they had two steals and a couple of wonderful moments, including a breakaway dunk by Malcolm that was a play I've not seen out of a Stanford guard in a LONG time.
They held Lacy, who torched da Bares for 39 on Thursday, to 2 first half points on FTs, and he picked up his third foul with more than 3 minutes left in the half. And other than Lacy, the Cougars don't really have a lot of offense. Especially because they play a very deliberate style, they were not going to get back into the game in a hurry. And when Stanford converted a turnover in the last 6 seconds into a length of the court drive by Randle to make it a 15 point lead, they looked good.
And of course, then they did what Dawkins' teams seem to do - completely lost focus at halftime. To a certain extent defensively, and almost entirely offensively. With a 15 point lead, they seemed content to make one pass and hoist up contested jump shots - even when they got offensive rebounds and had an entire 35 seconds to run offense. Josh Huestis fading toward the end line from 18 feet with 20 seconds left on the shot clock early in the second half, for example.
But when Powell hit a layup to keep the lead at 15 after the under 16 timeout, you started to think they might be able to put this one out of reach. Heck, maybe they started to think that, too.
Because that was the only field goal they would hit in the opening 11+ minutes of the second half.
Huestis taking a three 9 seconds after Lacy made his first field goal to cut it to 12. Securing the o-board and Nastic shooting early again. Nastic being called for an offensive hooking foul on a spin move, again, early in the clock. And Stanford not moving their feet on defense with as much purpose, and starting to reach out and grab, putting WSU in the bonus with 14 minutes left in the game and saddling Randle with his third foul with 15 minutes left. Oh, and not driving inside meant that the Coug's foul troubles (both Lacy and Longrus had 3 before halftime) didn't really come back to bite them.
This was where WSU's deliberate pace really killed them - every possession was 25 or 30 seconds, and while Stanford couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, the clock continued to wind down rapidly, even as the Cougs slowly crawled back into the game, cutting it to 5, after which Dwight Powell (shooting under 30% from 3 point range) hoisted one up from beyond the arc with 20 seconds on the clock at the 9 minute mark. At that point, Stanford had been outscored 18-8 in the second half.
Then Brown, who had not scored a point (and had only taken one shot), drove to the hoop in transition, and a minute later, Huestis crashed in from the opposite wing on a missed Brown 3 to jam it home to restore a 10 point lead. Brown made another layup on a beautiful back door feed to extend it to 12.
After a Que Johnson 3 cut it to 9 came a sequence that completely typifies this Stanford team's approach - you've got a 9 point lead against a team that doesn't score well with just about 5 minutes left. After Robbie Lemons missed a 3, Dwight Powell ran down the offensive board in the left corner and handed it to Randle. You have a full shot clock, but have two defenders (yours and Powell's) between you and the basket.
Naturally you don't bring the ball out and run some offense, but instead launch yourself at the basket immediately and get called for a push off.
It came down to Brown, who calmly converted four straight free throws, in the process fouling out Junior Longrus. Randle converted an and-1 opportunity off a beautiful feed from Powell for the backbreaker with under 3 minutes left, but really, that was the first time he showed up in an important way in the second half. And Chasson again seemed to have issues hitting his FTs down the stretch, twice going 1-2 as the Cougs started fouling.
All in all, hats off to Brown. A nice bump of energy by the Allen twins and Lemons. But Powell and especially Randle were again almost non-factors, and Nastic played his normal 15 minutes or so. If it weren't for Huestis, Stanford would've been outrebounded by an awful rebounding team.
On the positive side, they held serve, winning a game that, as the commentators said, may not have been a must-win, but certainly was a "can't afford to lose."Â Great game by Brown (although he again had a few turnovers of the "What rock-hard substance are your hands made of" variety), and a strong bid by the Allens for more playing time (their long arms were very active at the top of a Stanford zone, with a lot of tips and a couple of nice steals.)Â
On the negative, Stanford again showed that they will go long periods of complete offensive ineptitude without either an on-court leader taking charge or a meaningful intervention from the bench. 11.5 minutes, 1 field goal. Against a team that's really not that great of a defense, and whom you led by 15 points, to let them crawl back into a game that you HAD to win.
Now another "can't afford to lose" game against the Trojans on Thursday.
VG