In last night's battle of the unblemished, the best play of the game came with 14:38 left in the second half, as Josh Howard propelled his body high above a pack of Duke rebounders, letting his legs lag behind his torso, hanging in the air for an extra moment before letting loose a thunderous attack on the rim disguised as a put-back. His face raged with emotion, yet Sunday night's game was not a tale of flashy plays or the flair of Howard. Instead, it was a game about persistence, hard work around the basket, and toughness.
"Our kids played an outstanding game," said head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "They have a really good offense, it required a lot of switching and a lot of talking."
It was a game where Duke, facing a team with an incredible plus-14.2 rebounding advantage--tops in the ACC--made an incredible defensive effort, forcing 18 turnovers that it converted into 31 points.
It was a game where Shavlik Randolph, stepping in for the foul-troubled Shelden Williams, provided solid defense and calm scoring, a performance that would lead Krzyzewski to proclaim it the freshman's best game of the season.
It was a game of solid contributions, of J.J. Redick garnering six smart rebounds, of Casey Sanders blocking shots, and of Nick Horvath providing the things that don't find their way into a stats sheet.
Yet, most importantly, it was a game of fire. Pure, flat out, chest-thumping, face-distorting, jumping-up-and-down-during-timeouts, defensive ferocity by the name of Jones.
It's hard to criticize a player
Yet the reason that no one will remember his second-half dunk-of-the-week is that, by that point, his team was down 15, and, during key parts of the game, his offense was missing in action. As Duke went on a 10-0 run to end the first half, Howard took one shot, an unimaginative put-back attempt that was blocked easily by Randolph. At key moments in the opening of the second half, Howard was mostly content to receive the ball on the perimeter, take a few dribbles, and hand the ball off to his teammates.
On many plays in the decisive minutes of the game, Jones was a study in intensity, as he followed three-pointers with icy stares, displaying no shortage of emotion. On one play, he even nearly lost a cutting Howard as he stopped to raise his hands to the crowd.
By contrast, Howard's athletic, 6-foot-6 frame suggested an acceptance of defeat, as he jogged listlessly down the court, head cocked back in resignation. While late in the game he began calling for the ball and intensified his rebounding and defensive efforts, it was too little, too late.
Howard is an impressive player. Yet, for someone who was picked in the preseason by Athlon to be the ACC's top defensive player, he strangely let Redick and Ewing, guards with less athleticism, drive past him. However, it was Jones that really got the best of him Sunday night.
"I don't know whether I like him or not," Howard said quietly, when asked about Jones' play. "You know, I heard he gets into a fight almost every game... He just does things on the court that I don't like. The things that he does out there on the court, there's no need for them."
Yet, during key moments down the stretch Sunday night, Jones squared in against Howard, and Howard, in response, did not challenge Jones' tenacity. Perhaps it was Jones' aggression that deterred Wake Forest's leading scorer.
Regardless, Duke players and coaches do not hesitate to offer praise of Howard--Krzyzewski said he thought he was one of the ten best players in the country.
"He still ended up with a nice night," said Jones. "He's still a great player. I didn't have him solely by myself... it was a good defensive effort for us."
In this case, Howard's skill met with an impressive display of ferocious intensity, and, for the moment at least, Jones and Duke were victorious. However, Howard's intensity returned towards the end of the contest, and should surely be there when the Blue Devils travel to Winston-Salem in a little more than a month. Perhaps then Howard will fight fire with fire, and then the two Tobacco Road teams will have a real matchup.
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