SAN DIEGO “”mdash; Arron Afflalo felt like a man apart.
He was standing, watching, waiting, while his teammates were
making something happen.
He didn’t score in the first half. He took only two
shots.
By his own admission he played “horrendous,” his
worst half of the season in UCLA’s biggest game of the
season, and as he slumped to the locker room with his head down, he
knew something had to change.
“I felt, if we’re going to play our last game
tonight, then I have to be a part of it,” Afflalo said.
“I was just trying to do whatever I could.”
Twenty minutes later, the Afflalo who emerged from that locker
room was no longer a man apart. By the final whistle of the
Bruins’ 62-59 victory, he was just the man.
Afflalo scored all 13 of his points after halftime, including a
3-pointer with 34.4 seconds left, and as he locked down Ronald
Steele on the defensive end, forcing Steele’s game-winning
3-point attempt to fall short, all the horrors of the game’s
first 20 minutes were washed away.
“It’s definitely a better way to go out,”
Afflalo said. “If I have to have a horrendous first half and
have a second half or a last 34 seconds like that, then I’ll
take it.”
But in the future, he’d like to avoid the horrendous first
half altogether.
Afflalo, UCLA’s leading scorer, was clearly bothered by
Alabama’s zone defense, as he seemed content to stand along
the perimeter rather than create offensive opportunities for
himself. He didn’t even attempt a shot for 13 minutes, and
both of his first-half shot attempts were ill-advised
3-pointers.
Afflalo appeared indifferent, rather than aggressive and
assertive.
“I expect more than zero points, one rebound in the first
half and a tie score against a team that I think we should be
beating,” he said. “I don’t want to just watch my
teammates go to battle while I just stand out there and do
nothing.”
But his teammates knew the first half was just an
aberration.
“He was focused,” Jordan Farmar said. “You
could tell he had the look in his eye where he was going to get out
there and do whatever it takes to win.”
Afflalo’s first points of the game came from a 3-pointer
six minutes into the second half. He hit another 3 just over two
minutes later, and his fast-break dunk gave the Bruins a 53-45 lead
with 8:22 to play.
“He just responded big,” Farmar said. “He
knocked a couple of shots down, got his rhythm back in the game,
got his little swagger back and stepped it up on the defensive end
as well.”
When the Bruins needed him most, Afflalo was there once again.
With the shot clock winding down and the game on the line, Afflalo
came off a double screen and found the ball in his hands. At that
point, nothing else was on his mind. Not the ramifications of that
possession. Not the crowd. And certainly not his first half
performance.
“One of the mature aspects of me is that I’m able to
just zone out everything else that happens out and just focus on
that play,” Afflalo said. “Then I’ll look back on
the rest of that game later on.”
His footwork was perfect, his release was perfect, and the
result was all nylon.
“It doesn’t matter if he was 0-for-25,” Ryan
Hollins said. “He’s going to take that big shot at the
end.”
He’s also going to get that big stop.
Though Afflalo’s 3-pointer put the Bruins up by four, his
defense on Steele was what secured the victory.
“I will take my chances with Arron Afflalo guarding the
ball against anybody in the country at the top of the key with the
game on the line,” coach Ben Howland said.
And it paid off. Steele’s shot fell short, Cedric Bozeman
came up with the rebound, and Afflalo couldn’t help but
smile. And this time, he could walk to the locker room with his
head held high.
“There were no Xs and Os,” Afflalo said. “I
just had to be aggressive. I can’t just stand out there and
be a non-factor.
“I have to find a way to help my team somehow.”