Let's be real: Chris Paul just isn't great enough

Walt

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Phoenix joined the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericksand 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs as the third team in league history to win at least 64 games in the regular season and fail to advance to at least the conference finals. The 60 combined points the Suns lost Games 6 and 7 by represented the second-largest score difference over Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series, going all the way back to 1962 when the Warriors beat the St. Louis Bombers by 62 over the final two games, per ESPN Stats & Information research.

He sure does seem to continually be part of colossal, historical failures. Guess it’s just coincidental or something.
 

Rekkapryde

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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.





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.
These last two games were abysmal fam
 

No1

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These last two games were abysmal fam
That and it nitpicks and ignores moments of him fukking up. Nobody has the time to go back through all that. All this talk about how hard it is for a pass first PG to win yet he keeps taking super max deals like he’s about to lead them. He could’ve taken less and gone to Miami or something or been on the Lakers. I’m not trying to hear it.
 

MikelArteta

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he's just a stat padder at this point in his career

imagine paying a 40 year old chris paul 40 mill a year :picard:

Of course that nikka isn't going to retire with like 90 plus million remainig
 

nieman

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He's an all-time great PG, always has been, but it's ish like "Point God" and "Top 3 PG of all-time" that his fans try to paint him as, that have people going to the other side of him being highly criticized. He gets more passes than anyone, and it's never his fault, yet the other players that achieved more or the same aren't as great or are lesser than. He's probably in the 7-10 range.

IMO the reason CP shouldn't be as high is that he never seems to get his team the easy shots/layups when it matters. Booker is struggling, okay, as the "point god" and "greatest general the game has ever seen" get the ball out of his hands and get him some easy layups. This is something that every all-time great PG has done, time and time again. Chris Paul just doesn't seem to do that. Even as a Clipper, he had an All-Star running man, DPOY, 6th Man, one of that era's best spot up shooters, and would still lose. At some point, you have to look at the common denominator.
 

Rekkapryde

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He's an all-time great PG, always has been, but it's ish like "Point God" and "Top 3 PG of all-time" that his fans try to paint him as, that have people going to the other side of him being highly criticized. He gets more passes than anyone, and it's never his fault, yet the other players that achieved more or the same aren't as great or are lesser than. He's probably in the 7-10 range.

IMO the reason CP shouldn't be as high is that he never seems to get his team the easy shots/layups when it matters. Booker is struggling, okay, as the "point god" and "greatest general the game has ever seen" get the ball out of his hands and get him some easy layups. This is something that every all-time great PG has done, time and time again. Chris Paul just doesn't seem to do that. Even as a Clipper, he had an All-Star running man, DPOY, 6th Man, one of that era's best spot up shooters, and would still lose. At some point, you have to look at the common denominator.

Agree

I don't blame him for all of the failures because he has balled out in some of the series he's lost.

Sometimes it's not just meant to be
 

Who Not How

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CP3 really might not get a ring unless he ring chasers. He’s about to fall off the cliff within 2 seasons at his age and size. He still has big performances but he can’t keep it up anymore.
 

KidJSoul

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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.





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.

Lmao

You're talking about cherry picking when YOU ARE cherry picking individual games?

I was talking about the SERIES, not just the elimination game.

For instance:

2015: Why are you ignoring that the team blew a 3-1 lead. Why are you ignoring game 6 when the team blew a 20 pt lead?


Paul didn't play well during that stretch.
You just completely glossed over that.



2019: Kd got hurt, the Warriors bench was weak. In game 6, Curry outclutched Paul. Curry got 33 points in that second half, and drained 2 contested threes to close it out. Paul didn't do enough at the end of that game.


2021: did you really just say he outplayed Reggie Jackson like that means something :mjlol: KAWHI LEONARD GOT HURT

why are you ignoring the game 3 of the finals when he collapsed? Why you ignoring he lost 4 straight after up 2-0?


These are all strawman arguments. I never said he got outplayed by the other team's point guard, I said he was outplayed period.

I never said he didn't play well in elimination games - I've been saying that his lack of playoff success is down to him just never being the best player on the floor past the 2nd round.


You bringing up that he's a 6'0 foot guard that can't physically impose himself and that hes a pass first point guard adds to my point.

There's someone else on the floor that can do that over him: Luka, Giannis, etc.

There's someone on the other team that can outscore him, physically impose their will, and have a bigger impact on the game than him.

If he can't do that, that don’t call him prop him up so high. Don't argue he's the best point guard ever and that he's a point God and rank him that high on lists. That's my point.

He ain't transcendent.
 

Easy-E

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CP3 HAS BEEN SURROUNDED
BY GOOD TALENT FOR THE LAST
10 YEARS AND MADE IT PASS
THE 2ND RD 2 TIMES.

nikkaS ACT LIKE THIS DUDE
HAS BEEN ON MEDIOCRE TEAMS.
:devil:
:evil:

Then why is it all his fault, then???? That's weird logic.

Especially them Clippers teams where Blake Griffin got exposed for getting off on athleticism when it matter the most

fukking Harden, 100% healthy, disappeared that year the Rockets legit should've gone all the way

The Thunder were a talented team? :laugh:

Team always get better when he arrives and rarely, if ever, better off without him.
 
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