Chris Paul Scores 41 Points as Suns Obliterate and Eliminate Clippers
Chris Paul had a playoff career high-tying 41 points on 16-24 field goal shooting, plus eight assists, four rebounds, three steals, and no turnovers as his Phoenix Suns routed the L.A. Clippers 130-103 to win the Western Conference Finals 4-2 and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993. The Suns led 66-57 at halftime and then pushed that advantage to 89-72 in the third quarter before the Clippers rallied to pull within seven, 89-82. Paul scored eight points in the final 1:28 of the third quarter to extend the Suns' lead to 97-83 heading into the last stanza, and he poured in 19 fourth quarter points as the Clippers mounted little resistance in the closing 12 minutes. Devin Booker added 22 points, though he shot just 10-26 from the field. Deandre Ayton contributed 16 points on 8-10 field goal shooting, plus a game-high 17 rebounds. Jae Crowder, the only Suns player with NBA Finals experience, scored 19 points. Marcus Morris Sr. led the Clippers with 26 points, while Paul George had 21 points on 6-15 field goal shooting after scoring 41 points in game five as the Clippers extended the series with a win in Phoenix.
The Suns have clinched three playoff series in a row on the road, knocking off the defending champion Lakers and the 2021 NBA regular season MVP (Denver's Nikola Jokic) along the way. That is impressive and worthy of praise, and it does not diminish the value of those accomplishments to point out that the Lakers were without Anthony Davis for most of the series, that the Nuggets were without Jamal Murray for the entire series, and that the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard for the entire Western Conference Finals after Leonard suffered a knee injury in game four of the Clippers' 4-2 second round win versus the Utah Jazz, the team with the best regular season record in the NBA. The Suns have no control over who they face in the playoffs, so it is not their fault that they have eliminated three teams that were missing top level players.
Paul shot .420 or worse from
the field in two of those series, though it should be noted that he
shot .627 from the field as Phoenix swept Denver in the second round. Paul missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals due to the NBA's COVID-19 protocols, but he has played better in each game since he returned to action, as his field goal percentage shows: .263 in game three, .273 in game four, .421 in game five, .667 in game six. Of course, those numbers also show that for most of the series he was either out of action or not particularly efficient, and that the Suns were able to overcome those absences and inefficient performances to be in position to close out the series in game six. Paul chose wisely when he decided to go to Phoenix, even if that was not fully apparent until the 2021 playoffs.
Booker is leading the Suns in playoff scoring (27.0 ppg) by nearly 9 ppg
over Paul while also ranking second on the team in both rebounding (6.4
rpg) and assists (4.8 apg). Ayton is a beast in the paint. The addition of Paul to a team that went 8-0 in the "bubble" last summer was the final piece, but it is more than a bit deceptive for anyone to act like Paul has turned a losing team into a contender; the Suns were rising before the addition of Paul, and Paul has made the most of the opportunity to play alongside Booker and Ayton.
Paul is a great player, but for some reason he gets more credit for his (limited) playoff success and less blame for his (extensive) playoff failure than other great players do. It is obvious and indisputable that Paul authored a tremendous performance in game six, but that is part of a larger legacy, and does not define his career--particularly if this playoff run does not result in a title. Many media members have a strange way of quantifying leadership. If our mission is to go to point Z, and our leader only takes us to point M, then it is difficult to rationally argue that our leader is a better leader than someone who led his team to point Z five times--or, to put it more bluntly, when I think about the best leaders in the NBA in the post-Jordan era, I think about Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and LeBron James. Each of those guys has/had a different leadership style, but each played a major role in multiple championship runs; love them or hate them, they led their teams to point Z. Chris Paul is in his 16th season, and this will be his first NBA Finals appearance. You may retort that Paul has not always had the best supporting cast around him, but the reality is that he has had a lot of talent around him in multiple organizations while spending most of his career losing in the second round or earlier; either his leadership has been overrated, or leadership itself does not matter as much as raw talent. I am not saying that Paul is not a good leader, but the popular notion that he is the best leader in the NBA is not supported by the most important evidence: sustained team performance at an elite level.
Also, Paul's greatness does not make his flopping and other antics acceptable; to the contrary, as a great player he should be above
all of that. It continues to surprise me that referees apparently do not resent or push back against players like Paul and James Harden who get away with flopping. If I were a referee (or the league office), I would have a very jaundiced view of players who put so much effort into fooling the referees. It is one thing to draw attention to the fact that you have been fouled; well-coached players know that if they are hit they should yell or gesture to make sure that the referees are aware of the contact. It is quite another thing to fall down like you have been shot after minimal to no contact; that is not calling attention to a foul, but rather attempting to cheat the game.
In game six, Paul's antics resulted in a technical foul being called against DeMarcus Cousins, though Paul missed the resulting free throw (as Rasheed Wallace would say, "Ball don't lie!"). Also, Paul apparently said something to Patrick Beverley after the Suns blew the game open, and Beverley reacted by pushing Paul in the back. Paul laughed and clapped his hands after Beverley was ejected. That play is an example of Paul being an instigator and Beverley being an idiot.
Speaking of Beverley, the Clippers have a lot of hotheads/big talkers who disappear under pressure; we saw that during the 2020 playoffs when the Clippers melted down after taking a 3-1 lead versus Denver, and we ultimately saw that again after Leonard got hurt, as the Clippers lost two of their last three home games versus Phoenix. Leonard was averaging 30.4 ppg with a playoff career high .573 field goal percentage before the knee injury knocked him out of action.
Russell Westbrook summed up Beverley a while ago, telling the media that Beverley has fooled them by running around all over the court without doing much. Beverley's story--which starts with the academic fraud that he committed to end his college career, and then involved many stops before he made it to the NBA--is oft-repeated in admiring tones, but the main thing that I see Beverley do is make cheap and dangerous plays that could cause injuries (and sometimes have). Paul is annoying, but Beverley's cheap shot push to Paul's back does not demonstrate the toughness that so many people attribute to Beverley: a skilled and tough NBA player would have contained Paul when it counted, not pushed him from behind with the game over. Pushing a player from behind when you know that referees, coaches and others will jump in between so that the player you pushed does not even have a chance to get in your face is a cowardly and soft act. It is often said that no one would want to mess with Beverley. Why? Name one actual tough guy who would be afraid of someone who thinks that it is smart and tough to push an opponent from behind. True toughness has a lot more to do with mentality than physical attributes; a player who gets torched when it matters and then delivers a cheap shot to get ejected rather than face the music like a man is not a true tough guy.
It will be interesting to see who the Suns face in the NBA Finals, but both of their prospective opponents have already seen their best players go down with injuries that have been serious enough to cause those players to miss action (and it is not clear when/if either player will return to action). Will the Suns become the first team to win an NBA title in the four round format without facing a single team in the playoffs whose best player was even close to full health?
Labels: Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, L.A. Clippers, Paul George, Phoenix Suns
posted by David Friedman @ 2:23 AM
