Breh most of those were in the 1st round.
You're moving the goalposts arbitrary now. Yeah, most of his great closing games were 1st round cause his teammates were usually hurt or looked like ass by the second round. But clutch 1st-round elimination games don't count now? His record of clutch performances in those critical moments is still better than all those other superstar point guards I listed.
The issue is that in the 2nd round onwards, when he's not injured, he still always gets thoroughly outplayed by the other dude.
Cp3 isn't a "choker" like Harden, but he does underwhelm.
Bullshyt. Total bullshyt. Okay here, no cherry-picking, we're going to put up CP3's stats in the last game of EVERY series he's ever played beyond the 1st round before tonight:
2008 Game 7 WCSF:
18-8-14 on 8-18 shooting with 5 steals. Outplayed TP (17-2-5 on 7-17 shooting), but lost to the defending champs
2012 Game 4 WCSF:
23-6-11 on 9-18 shooting with 2 steals. Outplayed TP (17-3-5 on 5-13 shooting) but lost to a champ-level Spurs squad
2014 Game 6 WCSF:
25-7-11 on 9-18 shooting with 1 steal. Outplayed Westbrook (19-3-12 on 4-15 shooting) but lost when KD went off
2015 Game 6 WCSF:
31-7-11 on 10-18 shooting despite a strained hamstring. Outplayed Harden (23-2-3 on 5-20 shooting) but lost when his teammates choked like crazy while letting Rockets forwards go off
2015 Game 7 WCSF:
26-5-10 on 9-20 shooting with 4 steals. Arguably outplays Harden (31-7-8 on 7-20 shooting with 7 turnovers), but CP3's shooters miss everything and they're eliminated.
2018 Game 5 WCSF:
41-7-10 on 13-22 shooting with 2 steals. Outplayed Mitchell (24-4-9 on 9-17 shooting) and won to advance
2018 WCF: Got hurt against Golden State after helping lead them to a 3-2 advantage and playing Curry even in games 4 and 5
2019 Game 6 WCSF:
27-11-6 on 11-19 shooting. Pretty much even with Curry (33-5-4 on 9-20 shooting) but Curry's supporting cast was better.
2021 Game 4 WCSF:
37-3-7 on 14-19 shooting with 2 steals. Despite playing hurt CP3 outplays Monte Morris (19-0-6 on 8-15 shooting) and wins the series.
2021 Game 6 WCF:
41-4-8 on 16-24 shooting with 3 steals. Outplays Reggie Jackson (13-4-8 on 4-12 shooting) and advances to Finals
2021 Game 6 Finals:
26-2-5 on 11-19 shooting with 1 steal. Outplays Jrue Holiday (12-9-11 on 4-19 shooting) but he can't guard Giannis.
So in those later-round elimination games, CP3 averaged 30-6-9 on 56% shooting with 2 steals. Those are fukking fantastic #'s. Those might be better numbers in that situation than any point guard in history.
And in those games, he outplayed Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Monte Morris, Reggie Jackson, and Jrue Holiday, and basically played Steph Curry to a draw.
That deads it. The "CP3 plays poorly in big games" narrative is dead. The "CP3 plays poorly in big games in late rounds" narrative is dead. The "CP3 gets outplayed by his opposing PG in big games" narrative is dead. They were ALL bullshyt.
Chris Paul has had a lot of injuries to himself or his teammates at unfortunate times. And he's had a lot of teammates that couldn't hit shots or failed to play defense in critical moments. THAT is the issue. And just because he's had that bad luck and happens to be a 6'0" player who can't physically impose his will at all times, he gets put on blast like it's his fault.
But compare him to EVERY pass-first point guard in history and he's stepping up more in those situations than any of the others ever have.
