Postseason Ball Not Fazing CP3

by Steve Weinman on Apr 23, 2008 2:05 AM EDT in NBA Articles

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Except from the three-point line, that is.

That arc has really been an achilles heel for Chris Paul and the Hornets thus far in the playoffs, huh? Granted, the young point guard isn't a great three-point shooter to begin with (36.9 percent for the season), but he has really been putrid throughout the first two games of his maiden voyage to the playoffs. The man is shooting zero percent from deep. Yep, zero. Goose egg. Count 'em for yourself and see.

Of course, what you'll see if you do indeed count 'em for yourself is just how facetious that last paragraph is: Paul has taken a total of three shots from beyond the arc in his first two playoff games. Sure, he's missed them all. But he hasn't missed much else.

Apparently, nobody told Paul that the actual voting for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award occurs at the end of the regular season. Or maybe -- going out on a real limb here, we know -- this guy might just be in it for more than the individual hardware.

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What a player.

Zero career playoff games appeared in prior to Saturday. A disappointing finish to his NCAA career with a painful Wake Forest loss to West Virginia in double-overtime in the second round of the 2005 NCAA tournament, likely the last truly big game in which he played.

Two games into Paul's playoff tenure, none of that seems to be on his mind. At all.

He has absolutely torched the Dallas Mavericks twice in as many games, and it has been a pleasure to witness. Paul's array of floaters, stutter-step drives to the basket and his flashy dishing have completely undone the Mavs to start the series.

By now, you've likely heard the numbers, but they are worth reiterating: He had 24 second-half points in Game 1, en route to 35 points and 10 assists on 15-of-23 shooting. This was followed by 32 points, 17 dimes and 5 assists on 10-for-16 shooting.

The numbers are spectacular, and they don't deceive. The point guard and MVP candidate has been just that good thus far.

Simply put, he has made his opponents look over-matched thus far, particularly thanks to his quickness. In my initial commentary about this series, I suggested that Jason Kidd's veteran playoff savvy and renewed interest as a Maverick would vault him to an effort good enough to neutralize the playoff neophyte that is Paul. There is one especially critical problem with that theory: All the 'renewed interest' in the world doesn't suddenly allow doesn't allow one guy to stay with a dude who is a world quicker than he is.

That would be a fairly apt description of Paul. One of the fleetest players in the game, Paul may never need to shoot those deep jumpers we joked about at the outset of this piece. Jason Kidd and Jason Terry have shown zero ability thus far to prevent Paul from using his excellent footwork and explosive first step to get in the lane. Once this man is in the lane, he is generally going to do whatever it is that he feels like doing. If Paul has any room -- which is often the case when he beats his guy -- he is releasing that deadly righty floater of his and likely hitting it. If there is no defender close enough in help to force the floater, he'll forget that and continue right on in for a lay-up, which is fairly common for a guy with a stutter-step as effective as Paul's is.

But if the rest of the defense actually decides to show up in the paint, Paul gets to make what is likely his favorite choice: to facilitate. He can kick to David West for his lethal mid-range jumpers, to Peja Stojakovic, Mo Pete and Jannero Pargo for treys far more accurate than his own and to Ty Chandler (and just about anyone else willing to cut) for all sorts of lay-ups and dunks inside. He sees the floor beautifully and takes care of the ball well, turning it over 2.5 times per game during the regular season and just four times total in his first two playoff games.

Being able to deal with this guy virtually necessitates near-perfect help defense or the ability for Paul's man to keep the youngster in front of him and away from the basket, hopefully forcing CP3 into shooting a few long jumpers, which seems to be the weakest part of his game. For now, the Mavs need not worry about that, as they have neither the help nor the speed at guard.

But Chris Paul certainly does have that speed. And two games in, he is using it to wreak more postseason havoc than just about anyone could have expected.

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Great piece Steve, I love watching this kid play, he is truely amazing.

I watched both the games on TNT last night and was wondering something. It is very obvious that both the Suns and Hornets run their entire offense through their point guards(Nash and Paul), with lots of pick and rolls involved. If the Spurs move on to play the Hornets, do you think that Popovich might have Bowen guard Paul like he is guarding Nash? Bowen is completely shuting down their offense by shutting down Nash and that pick and roll. Do you think Bowen can stop Chris Paul in the same fashion? Do you think this will completely ruin the Hornets offense?

by bringbackcousy on Apr 23, 2008 8:36 AM EDT reply actions

Hey bringbackcousy,

Much thanks for the kind words — and I’m right with ya about watching CP3 play.

Very interesting question about Popovich and the Hornets, and of course now I feel like a dope for not having a better recollection (or videotape) of what Pop did against New Orleans during the season. For my part, I would be very much surprised if Pop didn’t have Bowen play Paul, at least at the beginning of the series. He is still their best individual defender, and if anyone could get the youngster frustrated, it’s Bowen. Although you could say CP3 got the best of him as it was Bowen who was suspended for the kicking incident several weeks ago, it’s worth noting that Bowen also provoked a reaction from Paul in that situation — and it certainly isn’t impossible that it could be the young guard who gets caught the next time around if Bowen baits him.

Only two real issues I see regarding Bowen-on-Paul for San Antonio would be the issue of matching up with Peja, and again the issue of Paul’s quickness. Tony Parker isn’t big enough to match Stojakovic, who has shot the ball beautifully all season and will need to be neutralized. Thus, my guess would be that Bowen playing Paul would necessitate Parker shifting to guard the two-guard (Mo Pete) and Michael Finley sliding to guard Peja at the three. If the Spurs are comfortable with that, fair enough. But I wonder how well Finley will be able to keep the shooter at bay at this point.

The other issue is that for as good as Bowen is, he has lost some quickness — that’s life; it happens with age. While Bowen has been able to stay with Nash with fair efficacy thus far, Paul is an even tougher match-up in that sense, and if there is anything to be said for TP, it’s that he is certainly very quick. I would guess then that — in the event these two teams advance, as they still each have half a series to go — we would see Bowen on Paul to start but a quick change back to TP if the young point guard’s quickness is too much.

As for completely ruining the Hornets’ offense…hmmm. As I’m sure you know, we’re talking about a very good defensive team in the Spurs, one that can stop just about anybody when the ‘D’ is firing on all cylinders. But Paul has been brilliant all season (and even better in his first two playoff games), and he’ll certainly be a tough take. The Spurs may disrupt it, but finding out whether they can completely ‘ruin’ is part of the fun of watching — I’m not sure. I do think that critical to stopping this team is stopping Paul’s penetration — if you can keep this guy at the top of the circles, you’ve taken a big step in the right direction. Long jump shots and quick early-possession passes to get the ball out of his hands are critical. The question will be if Bowen can slide his feet well enough (and the Spurs can hedge on screen-rolls) to keep Paul in front of him. Looking forward to finding out that answer.

Great questions all around…have you any predictions on any of this?

-sw

by Steve Weinman on Apr 23, 2008 7:59 PM EDT reply actions

not sure if you are going to see this since its not front page anymore, but…..

I was thinking that they might start with Parker guarding CP3 and see how he does, and if he starts to burn Parker then we would see a switch to Bowen. A few times against the suns they put Bowen on Nash when Parker was out of the game so they didn’t have any mismatches defensively, but they also didnt have a point guard on the floor. I am pretty excited to see what happens, but at the same time I am kind of pulling for the Suns to win because I love to watch Amare play, he is something else.

by bringbackcousy on Apr 25, 2008 9:56 AM EDT reply actions