Here are a few shots that stood out to me. There are others that I'd be interested to hear some discussion about, but they'd require sifting through the previous footage, so for now, this is just from today's matches.
1. Slow rolling Johnny -
The most boring of the shots on paper, but I think it shows an interesting difference in the mindset of someone like JA vs. guys like Hatch. When he gets a little out of line and has to make a tough shot, Johnny's not afraid to cinch it by slow rolling it. He did it more than once and made the ball every time. This one barely dropped.
Hatch tends to fire them with pace, looking to get distance between the OB and the pocket if he misses. But it seems like he misses more, and by a larger margin, favoring a 'safe' overcut.
Except it's not as safe as keeping the other guy stuck in his chair.
Dechaine slow rolled one, hung it, and everyone talked about how dumb that was... but if he cuts it another inch nobody would have anything to say. Sometimes people just miss. I think Johnny's got the right mindset... play the percentages, but not to the point where every marginal shot has a planned miss built in. Then it stops being a 2-way shot and starts looking more like a weak safe.
2. Johnny's Efren-like Miracle 9 -
A slightly fuller hit on the 4 and he scratches in the corner. 9 ball's a funny game.
3. Shane's Miracle 9 -
he actually put himself in this position from ball-in-hand I think, hooking himself after his very first shot. The 9 dodged a couple of balls before finding its way home. In general balls could hit around the first diamond and find their way in the pockets. This diamond seemed to play easier than others... maybe due to the slickness of freshly polished balls?
4. Shane's Appleton-assisted Out -
Faced with this mess, shane drops the 1 and ends up where you see the red-dotted cue ball. He combos in the 2-7 and floats across the table, nearly scratching in the opposite side. The 8 almost hides the 2 but somehow he floats the cue ball to A to play field-goal shape on the 3.
To get to the 4 he has to cheat the pocket on the 3, using stun draw to bend the cue ball around the 9 and all the way up to position B (path not shown).
He rattles the 3 and leaves it hanging... too much pocket cheating, too much force. But Appleton is forced to kick around the 5 ball to sink the hanger, which is a gimme for any C-player. Except he gets a pretty cold roll. If he cuts the ball a bit fuller or thinner, he's fine... he gets shape on the 4 and probably gets out. But he scratches in the corner. Shane mops up.
5. Shuff's Slice -
People who think Brandon doesn't belong, need to see this guy in gear. I've seen him run out races to 4 in the local Action Pro Tour like pool was too easy and he was getting bored of it. We didn't see his A-game at the Mosconi Cup but he had some nice outs. This one started with an unholy thin cut on the 2, which was almost entirely hidden by the 9. Inside english and perfect speed gets him to the window between the 5-6. Another nice shot in this out: squeaking the 7 by the 8 when it seemed like it couldn't go.
6. Melling, the White Efren -
Shuff's safe was solid and by the book. The 6 went far away, the cue ball is close to the 8. But it's not perfect. If you don't freeze the other guy to the ball at the pro level, he's gonna hit it, even with an awkward kick off the near rail.
Melling's kick drilled it in, floated down for shape on the 7, and he narrowly avoided scratching in the side. I'd say that makes up for one of USA's early 9-balls.
7. Melling Reyes? -
Not content with playing a nice carom from the 3 to the not-quite-hanging 7 ball... he puts a load of right sidespin on the ball so that after cutting the 7, it spins around the 5 ball... and happens to land straight in on a side pocket shot for the 3 he just clipped.
8. Melling's MVP shot -
He had another trick shot worth mentioning, a Deuel-esque umbrella draw shot. But this one took both brains and beautiful execution. After the break he has a viable cut on the 2, but how to get to the 3? Any path involving natural follow seems doomed to bump into the 5. It's a bit thin to pull off an outside draw shot (remember it's a diamond... you can't just hit the ball a bit fat to help your draw... ask Shane).
He lines up the tangent line, sees the cue ball will probably run into the upper half of the 5, so he just loads up with center left spin and pops the ball... firm enough for it to travel on that tangent line, softly enough that the spin really grabs the rail. It somehow flies straight up the table to get him on the 3.
It's not enough that the guy played pretty much perfectly under pressure, he has to look like a genius while doing.
Here's the CueTable diagrams. I missed one or two probably but no energy to fix it.
1. Slow rolling Johnny -
The most boring of the shots on paper, but I think it shows an interesting difference in the mindset of someone like JA vs. guys like Hatch. When he gets a little out of line and has to make a tough shot, Johnny's not afraid to cinch it by slow rolling it. He did it more than once and made the ball every time. This one barely dropped.
Hatch tends to fire them with pace, looking to get distance between the OB and the pocket if he misses. But it seems like he misses more, and by a larger margin, favoring a 'safe' overcut.
Except it's not as safe as keeping the other guy stuck in his chair.
Dechaine slow rolled one, hung it, and everyone talked about how dumb that was... but if he cuts it another inch nobody would have anything to say. Sometimes people just miss. I think Johnny's got the right mindset... play the percentages, but not to the point where every marginal shot has a planned miss built in. Then it stops being a 2-way shot and starts looking more like a weak safe.
2. Johnny's Efren-like Miracle 9 -
A slightly fuller hit on the 4 and he scratches in the corner. 9 ball's a funny game.
3. Shane's Miracle 9 -
he actually put himself in this position from ball-in-hand I think, hooking himself after his very first shot. The 9 dodged a couple of balls before finding its way home. In general balls could hit around the first diamond and find their way in the pockets. This diamond seemed to play easier than others... maybe due to the slickness of freshly polished balls?
4. Shane's Appleton-assisted Out -
Faced with this mess, shane drops the 1 and ends up where you see the red-dotted cue ball. He combos in the 2-7 and floats across the table, nearly scratching in the opposite side. The 8 almost hides the 2 but somehow he floats the cue ball to A to play field-goal shape on the 3.
To get to the 4 he has to cheat the pocket on the 3, using stun draw to bend the cue ball around the 9 and all the way up to position B (path not shown).
He rattles the 3 and leaves it hanging... too much pocket cheating, too much force. But Appleton is forced to kick around the 5 ball to sink the hanger, which is a gimme for any C-player. Except he gets a pretty cold roll. If he cuts the ball a bit fuller or thinner, he's fine... he gets shape on the 4 and probably gets out. But he scratches in the corner. Shane mops up.
5. Shuff's Slice -
People who think Brandon doesn't belong, need to see this guy in gear. I've seen him run out races to 4 in the local Action Pro Tour like pool was too easy and he was getting bored of it. We didn't see his A-game at the Mosconi Cup but he had some nice outs. This one started with an unholy thin cut on the 2, which was almost entirely hidden by the 9. Inside english and perfect speed gets him to the window between the 5-6. Another nice shot in this out: squeaking the 7 by the 8 when it seemed like it couldn't go.
6. Melling, the White Efren -
Shuff's safe was solid and by the book. The 6 went far away, the cue ball is close to the 8. But it's not perfect. If you don't freeze the other guy to the ball at the pro level, he's gonna hit it, even with an awkward kick off the near rail.
Melling's kick drilled it in, floated down for shape on the 7, and he narrowly avoided scratching in the side. I'd say that makes up for one of USA's early 9-balls.
7. Melling Reyes? -
Not content with playing a nice carom from the 3 to the not-quite-hanging 7 ball... he puts a load of right sidespin on the ball so that after cutting the 7, it spins around the 5 ball... and happens to land straight in on a side pocket shot for the 3 he just clipped.
8. Melling's MVP shot -
He had another trick shot worth mentioning, a Deuel-esque umbrella draw shot. But this one took both brains and beautiful execution. After the break he has a viable cut on the 2, but how to get to the 3? Any path involving natural follow seems doomed to bump into the 5. It's a bit thin to pull off an outside draw shot (remember it's a diamond... you can't just hit the ball a bit fat to help your draw... ask Shane).
He lines up the tangent line, sees the cue ball will probably run into the upper half of the 5, so he just loads up with center left spin and pops the ball... firm enough for it to travel on that tangent line, softly enough that the spin really grabs the rail. It somehow flies straight up the table to get him on the 3.
It's not enough that the guy played pretty much perfectly under pressure, he has to look like a genius while doing.
Here's the CueTable diagrams. I missed one or two probably but no energy to fix it.
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shot 3 rails and then it got him straight in on the 9. 
