Shooter vs Mover, which one is more important overall for winning.
Did this match settle this debate once and for all?
Who did you think was the shooter and the mover? Dennis made about 98% of his shots and Scott made about 95% of his. This was a great exhibition of excellent shot making, moving, trapping, safety play which we may never see again. Scott showed a lot of class at the end.
Shooter vs Mover, which one is more important overall for winning.
Did this match settle this debate once and for all?
i dont think it settled that issue at all...... dennis is a special player, one i havent seen in my lifetime......imho, a combination of those 2 styles gets the best results.......Shooter vs Mover, which one is more important overall for winning.
Did this match settle this debate once and for all?
It isn't just a question of shooting vs moving, it is really a question of the degree of out-shooting vs out-moving. In any sport where there is a combination of defense and offense there is going to be an ebb and flow between them.
The thing with pool is that both offense and defense (shooting and moving) is that the quality of both is built on a combination of knowledge and execution. It is clear that Dennis had a significant edge in execution. That helped both his moving and his shooting, and seems to have overcome Scott's edge in knowledge.
By the little bit I saw it seemed much more powerful of a move to freeze the opponent to a ball(s) than to freeze him to a rail and Dennis looked like he was more capable of freezing Scott to a ball(s).
The disparity between DO's pocketing skills and Scott's pocketing skills in this match was the main reason Dennis won... The ability to make a ball to begin a run from anywhere, at any distance and to confidently keep the run going with banks, and extreme cuts was the main deciding factor... Dennis was by far the superior shooter, making balls from positions where a good shooter wouldn't even consider the shot... He's a remarkably accurate shooter and in this particular match his banking skills were tremendous as well... He won several games trailing 5/6/7 to 0 with all the balls uptable... This had to be the hardest thing to cope with for Scott, losing a single game with a big lead is hard on the psych, let alone losing 4 or 5 of them... When someone continues to bring it, game after game, shot after shot, it has to affect the other player, and this is what happened in the match... Scott's confidence was reasonably shaken, who's wouldn't be? If every time you left a sliver of a shot the guy buried it, every time you left him a bank, he fired it in.. Scott held up fairly well when one considers what he was dealing with... A freakin MONSTER!!!
Now when Alex and Dennis play for the belt, and they will, it will be very interesting, because I believe Alex is a great mover and pockets balls very close to Dennis's level. Dennis has a great CB, so does Alex, they both bank well, and run balls equally, this match up has to happen, it will truly be a WAR... DO is fearless, and so is Alex, if the game is played on a table with 4 1/4" pockets it should be a real close match... I'd like to see it..
I think Scotts attitude and thus, allowing (4 1/4'' pockets) to be accepted was THEE mistake. No different than Sugar Ray picking the ring size for his win. You've gotta position yourself way before a game like this is made....that this one condition is a MUST, for the match to happen.
All you guys saying that Scott lost the match because Dennis pocketed better than Scott... REALLY? Was that a shock to you guys? Who the hell did you think was going to pocket better before it started? If thats what you think Scott undoing was then why the hell did they play the match in the first place..
How about his decision making let him down more than his shot making.. Up 7 to 0 and shoots a combo bank with dennis having a ball hanging and all the balls out of play and opens the balls and blows the game.. how many games did scott have monster leads and end up getting out moved and gave dennis the shot.... how many games did scott lose when he needed 1 and dennis needed two or 3. How about the game where Dennis needed 1 ball and Scott needed 2 and Scott had already given Dennis 2 back cuts on the spot shot that Dennis barely missed.. Dennis makes 1 of the up table balls and Scott doesnt make the other to get them both in play and instead he gives Dennis his THIRD back cut on the spot ball and Dennis makes it.. How many times did he think Dennis would miss it...
Scott made mental blunders he doesnt ever make.. Here is a shock for you guys.. Dennis moved as well or BETTER than Scott... You guys want to focus on Scott not running 8s and out and instead getting 5s.. well guess what if your up 5 to 0 at Scotts level if he is moving good Dennis should never had a prayer to win those games.. Did you guys think Scott was going to get up there playing a guy like Dennis for $ 200,000 and he was going to run balls like he was playing Dippy Dave? The money pressure, the pressure Dennis applied and the so called mythical jerk yourself off best one pocket player in the world title on the line of course scott wasnt going to never miss a ball.. Under the circumstances I think he pocketed well, not great but well considering..
The easy excuse here is ..If i pocketed better I would have won..Its easy to write off the loss on human error after all we are human.. In a few days Scott should go back and watch his decision making and how he moved in the games i listed above and maybe you guys should also and then if he really wants to learn and improve at his level he will be able to say to himself my mental game let me down.. Im not even going to get into his body language, blaming the table etc.. Dennis played on the same table and had ZERO problems