THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12. 2013
PAGE 7B
COMMENTARY
Early season losses still matter
By Kory Carpenter
kcarpenter@kansan.com
If Kansas' 67-61 loss to Florida Tuesday night had been in the NCAA Tournament, it wouldn't have mattered that the Jayhawks clawed their way back from a 15 point halftime deficit to get within five points in the final minute. The fact that they gave up a 21-0 first half run in a hostile gym and ented up being a few plays away from sending the game to overtime. There wouldn't have been any positives taken from committing 24 turnovers to a good team and still having a chance to win the game.
None of that would have mattered. The season would be over.
But Tuesday's loss wasn't in the NCAA Tournament. No team should be able to give up 21 straight points on the road to a veteran, top-25 ranked team and still have a chance to win the game. Kansas played worse in stretches than any game since last year's TCU debacle. They missed layups, ran into teammates while going after loose balls, and were soft going up for rebounds.
They were awful.
But there is still a tomorrow, and head coach Bill Self has plenty of ammunition for practices in the near future.
"That is how bad we are when you don't play well," he can say. "And that is how good we are when everything is clicking."
There are plenty of issues, like the continued search for a consistent point guard, the inability to play above a fifth grade level against a zone defense, and in general, playing soft.
But we have seen what different players can do when things are going well. Andrew Wiggins averaged 23.3 points per game in the three biggest games to date; Duke, at Colorado, and at Florida. Joel Embid is beginning to become a defensive force, averaging 2.8 blocks the last three games. Even Frank Mason had 15 points in last month's victory over Duke.
There is a reason national pundits still say Kansas has the highest ceiling of any team in the country. Maybe they will reach that ceiling by March. Maybe not. Remember this, though: Christmas is still two weeks away, the Jayhawks are playing the toughest schedule in the country, and they have a younger roster than all but two Division I teams.
Tuesday's first half showed us this team has a long way to go to reach its potential, and it may be further away from a finished product than we thought. But there is a lot of time between Dec. 12 and March 8, the last day of the regular season. And if the first decade of Bill Self basketball in Lawrence has taught us anything, its that his teams in December rarely resemble his teams in March.
Edited by Jessica Mitchell
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and the New York Knicks pulled out an 83-78 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night after blowing a 23-point lead.
Knicks blow big lead but edge Bulls 83-78
NBA
15 points.
Amare Stoudemire made the tiebreaking jumper with 2:35 left and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who ended a two-game losing streak but made it harder on themselves than necessary with some sloppy second-half offense.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored 20 points for the Bulls, who have lost three straight and five of six. They are having a dreadful time scoring, topping out at 75 points in their previous two games and barely surpassing that in this one.
loakim Noah had 12 points and 11 rebounds in his return after missing a game with a bruised right thigh, but Luol Deng missed his third straight game with a sore left Achilles.
Already without Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler, the Bulls gave up a 19-0 run in the second quarter in handing the Knicks a lead that was too big to overcome.
The Knicks were without Raymond Felton, who was resting a sore left hamstring that has bothered him repeatedly this season and could be out now for what coach Mike Woodson said would "probably be a little while." Fellow starting guard Iman Shumpert joined him among the injured in the third quarter after bruising his left knee during a collision.
The Knicks led by 12 points at halftime and were cruising with a lead of as much as 23 in the third quarter before handing the Bulls a chance to come back by committing five turnovers in less than 2 minutes late in the period. That allowed Chicago to pull within 68-54 heading to the fourth.
The Bulls then held the Knicks to three field goals in the first 9-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, outsourcing them 20-6 to tie it at 74 on Noah's follow shot with 3:39 remaining. Stoudemire
broke the tie with his jumper,
and Anthony made it 78-74 with
two free throws with 1:29 to go
before Chicago turned it over to
end the comeback hopes.
Chicago led 17-15 after one quarter, then needed more than half the second to make its first basket. The Knicks scored the first 19 points while the Bulls were missing their first 11 shots, taking a 34-17 lead before Duneley ended the drought with a 3-pointer with 5:43 remaining.
Stoudemire was a catalyst in the spurt while playing on both nights of back-to-back games for the first time this season. He was playing restricted minutes and was forced to sit out some games earlier this season following summer knee surgery, but has progressed past that and was on the court for 29 minutes.
Both teams reached the second round of last season's playoffs but have been wrecked early this season by injuries, with the Bulls losing Rose again and the Knicks going most of the season without Tyson Chandler. The Knicks have been far worse than expected, creating a strange situation before this game where both coaches were asked about the Knicks coaching job.
There's frequent speculation that Woodson's job is in jeopardy, and he acknowledged that the Knicks aren't playing as well as last season, though added he thinks they can once they get healthy.
Meanwhile, an ESPN.com story suggested that the Knicks would try to get Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, who was an assistant here under Jeff Van Gundy.
"I don't pay any attention to any of that stuff." Thibodeau said. "To me, the only thing I have to do is concentrate on our team, our next opponent, our improvement, and never get away from that. You know, there's a lot of stuff that gets thrown out there ... so if you pay any attention, it does no good."
Thibodeau went on to say how much he liked his team, and the Bulls gave him plenty to like with a gritty second-half comeback attempt that just fell short. Carlos Boozer finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
NBA
Westbrook propels
Thunder past Grizzlies
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 18 to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 116-100 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
Allen with injuries — stayed close to the Thunder through most of the first half and trailed 40-37 after Conley's floater in the lane with 4:19 to go in the second quarter.
Then the Thunder put together a 17-5 run to end the half for a 57-42 advantage at the break. During the run, Durant had two driving dunks and Westbrook added a 3-pointer and four assists.
Reserve guard Jeremy Lamb added a career-high 18 points to help the Thunder to their fourth straight win and 12th in 13 games. Neither Westbrook nor Durant played in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder maintained a double-digit lead.
Mike Conley had 20 points for the Grizzlies and Zach Randolph and reserve Jon Leuer scored 17 apiece. Memphis ended a season-long six-game homehold with the loss.
A depleted Grizzlies' squad — missing starters Marc Gasol and Ton
Oklahoma City boosted its advantage to as many as 24 points in the second half on several occasions giving the Thunder the luxury of resting Durant and Westbrook. The Thunder were playing back-to-back games after defeating the Hawks Tuesday night in Atlanta on Tuesday night.
The Thunder, who shot 61 percent in a win over Indiana on Sunday, shot 56 percent against the Grizzlies.
Memphis shot 42 percent and was outrebounded, 42-33.
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New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire dunks over Chicago Bulls forward Erik Murphy in the first half of their NBA game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Dec. 11.
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