Bruins win, but fail to impress

I suppose if I determined anything from Thursday night’s game against ASU, it is that UCLA’s desperation-heave percentage defense is just not what it once was.

Beyond that, though, it’s hard to gauge anything off the 67-61 UCLA victory.

UCLA won, and the Bruins did not play their best. The Sun Devils threw their best out there, but it was not enough. Same old song (just a drop of water in an endless sea).

I’m still not sure I understand why UCLA can’t put forth a consistent game against a zone defense considering they have the weapons both inside (Luc!) and outside (Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Russell Westbrook) to make any team pay for playing zone.

In all fairness, the Sun Devils were probably playing one of the more aggressive zones that the Bruins have faced this year. They are also probably one of the more well-coached teams, considering I once coached some third-graders who would probably have had a shot walking on for ASU, yet the Sun Devils were still holding their own against the No. 5 team in the nation for most of the game.

Even Westbrook, who is the best penetrator on the team, was having trouble penetrating ASU’s zone.

And yeah, it’s a little ridiculous to say that ASU is the best 0-14 Pac-10 team ever, but the Sun Devils probably are.

Still, I’m having trouble justifying this win as a positive step for UCLA. Six-point victories over bottom-feeding teams, even if they come on the road, just don’t give me a good feeling for the fate of this team come tournament time.

I didn’t watch the West Virginia game because I was stuck helping my brother move out in the boonies, but I’m fully prepared to base my opinion of the game on the text messages I received throughout the game (for those of you scoring at home, this would be called an uneducated opinion).

Afflalo played well in that game. No one else did. UCLA lost.

For the first half against ASU, this was much the same. Afflalo had 15 points and the rest of the team had 19, with seven of those coming on a late flurry from Collison.

This would be classified as a bad trend.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute forgot that he was supposed to stop missing shots and missed six against ASU. Josh Shipp played about as well as he has played over the last month or so (which is to say, very poorly, with some lazy defense thrown in just for kicks). Lorenzo Mata scored the first six points of the game for UCLA and then was basically never given the ball again, I suppose out of fear of the sudden onset of Michael Fey hands, which can strike without warning.

The Bruins have just not mastered the art of consistency. Against the Oregon schools, the Bruins looked like world-beaters, and then they laid an egg in the West Virginia game. If ASU had slightly more talent, Thursday’s game probably would have been a loss.

My friend said after the game that this is probably a Sweet 16 team, and I can’t say I disagree with him at this stage. The Bruins right now are not becoming the dominant team that they became at the end of last season. It might be the lack of the fiery on-court leader Jordan Farmar, or the calming presence of Cedric Bozeman, or the halfway-sure hands of Ryan Hollins, but whatever it is, the Bruins this year just don’t look like a team that’s prepared to make a serious run.

In other news, Josh may be better, but it’s a close thing. And I’m not sure who I’m insulting there.

E-mail Woods at dwoods@media.ucla.edu if you have a tricky thing called perspective that reminds you that the Bruins are leading the Pac-10 right now.

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