Lucas: Tough Love

By Adam Lucas

BROOKLYN—Just so you're aware—he heard you.

You know what we're talking about. All those times Theo Pinson hoisted a three-pointer over the past couple of years, and as he loaded up the shot, you drew in your breath, or even muttered, "Nooooooo!" he heard you.

Pinson was talking to a small group of Rams Club members a couple months ago and let them in on a little secret. "I hear you," he said. "What I want to know is, how do you expect somebody to make a shot when as soon as they go up, everyone is saying, 'Noooooo!'"

Not that you were wrong, necessarily. Pinson made five of his first 35 three-pointers this season. That stretch goes through the Notre Dame game on Feb. 12. Since then, he's converted seven of his 11 three-point attempts.

You read that right. Through the first 27 games of the season, Pinson made four three-pointers. In the six games since then, he's made seven.

Two of them came in Thursday night's ACC Tournament quarterfinal against Miami. There was a time when Pinson making two three-pointers in the same game would have been a headline-grabbing event. This was barely a ripple, because we were too busy reveling in all the other things the Greensboro native did to help the Tar Heels win the game, 82-65.

"Theo," Roy Williams said, "was sensational."

He wasn't sensational for the entire night. Pinson was party to one of the strangest beginnings to a basketball game in the Williams era, as Carolina's starters watched the Heels fall behind 14-0 in the opening six minutes. The Tar Heels' overreliance on three-point shots prompted Williams to sub five for five. Asked about entering the game in what felt like a high-pressure situation, Seventh Woods was painfully correct:

"Well," he said, "things really couldn't get much worse. So we just needed to go play basketball."

Before he sent the new five into the game, Williams grabbed Brandon Robinson and Woods, who would be entering the contest with Andrew Platek, Garrison Brooks and Sterling Manley. "You two are like my seniors, because you're going to be out there with three freshmen," the head coach said. "I need you to settle things down and make plays."

So they did. The deficit eventually stretched to 14-0 before Woods drove and converted a bucket. That was around the time that Williams turned and barked at the starters on the bench. Pinson responded, and then decided his actions would be the best response, as he stood and applauded the reserves on defense.

"That was just a little bit of tough love," Joel Berry said of the interaction between Williams and Pinson during the substitution.

Whatever it was, it set the tone for the rest of the evening. Sure, maybe the unique relationship between Williams and Pinson is the most widely known aspect of their relationship; even after the win, they took their comedy show to the media room, where they appeared together in the postgame press conference.

But while they're entertaining, don't forget this detail first—they are competitors. Pinson had one of the best do-everything performances in recent memory to propel Carolina to the win.

He scored. He rebounded. He swished key three-pointers (Woods shoots with Pinson every day after practice and says this kind of shooting ability has always been present in his teammate).

And with two minutes to play, there was Pinson throwing himself on the floor to recover a loose ball in an eight-point game. It was the kind of subtle play we've grown accustomed to from the senior over these last four years. It's just that now those subtle plays are a footnote to a dominating box score performance.

Along the way, he's totally changed how we watch the game. Gone is the instinct to wince when he loads a jumper. Now the game is close and it's late and there is one overwhelming thought: Get the ball to Theo.

Maybe you were one of the groaners back then and maybe you weren't. Only you know for sure. Either way, it's undeniable that the feeling of dread has been replaced by a certain feeling of confidence when Pinson slices his way towards the rim again. We've seen it enough by now to know that somehow, he's going to figure out a way to spin the ball up on the glass, and almost magically coax it down through the rim. Sometimes the acrobatics and contortions might defy belief, but during this eight-game double figure scoring streak Pinson has developed an uncanny knack for putting the ball through the net.

And about those three-pointers: back in January, Pinson was good-natured but still confident with that group of Rams Club members. "I promise," he said, "I know I can make those shots."

We believe you, Theo. We believe you.

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Sterling Manley

Theo Pinson

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

Seventh Woods

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