Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  92 responses

The Post Up: Chris Paul…

Leaves me speechless.

by Holly MacKenzie

It’s Friday! How? We go through this every week. Or at least, I do.

My goodness.

I’ve got a busy one today, the Heat are in town. I’ll be welcoming Moon and JO back to town while checking out the rest of the squad for the second time this season. Looking forward to seeing how Beasley has improved from a few months ago. I can’t lie though, I’m sad that there will be no Shaun Livingston in the locker room. You all know how much love I have for that guy.

I’ve got to take this off of the NBA track for a moment and give a HUGE shout out to my boy, Christian TBear Upshaw. The sickest point guard I know, the brother I never had, my family for life and also the newly awarded MVP of the AUS. I’ll be keeping tabs on the your game tonight via Twitter and I’m so ridiculously proud of you!

The games were pretty good last night, considering they both ended up being blowouts. I enjoyed having a change of pace from the Lakers or Celtics for a Thursday.

Chris Paul. There are no words. Besides, amazing, unreal, beauty in motion, awe-inspiring… You get the picture. He was a joy to watch last night.

And then in his postgame interview saying he was happy to have T.C. back? He may as well have said, “Don’t you eff with my guys again, front office.” Six in a row since the trade was rescinded and I can see them continuing to roll.

During the Nuggets game, Andersen preening his “feathers” after blocking Rudy might have looked good, but he sure looked silly when LaMarcus Aldridge came back and dunked on him.

That’s what he gets for taunting. Just ask Kobe how the Cassell-dance worked out for him. Be gracious.

Although, speaking of tauniting. JR Smith is sort of exempt from this category.

JR with the taunting foul after a putback dunk. Of course. Classic JR.

As Russ said, in the final minutes of a blowout, if he shoots a three, it’s just the only thing he knows to do. He plays on instinct and talent and not much else.

Melo’s sprint to the bench was some funny stuff. I like that he dealt with it and chose to move past it and make light of it. Karl appeared to enjoy it as well.

Man, I can’t lie. I’m so excited about the AUS playoff games tonight. What I’d give to be in Nova Scotia right now.

New Orleans 108 Dallas 88

With a dribble behind the back he was off, dancing towards the basket, threatening to score on another layup before going up into the air and dropping off the pass for a trailing James Posey. That wasn’t Chris Paul’s prettiest play of the night, though. That one was an unbelievable full-speed dribble between Jason Terry’s legs, without missing a beat to dish off a pass to Rasual Butler who finished with an easy dunk. Paul was the star in this one, finishing with a game-high 27 points to go with 15 assists as he led the Hornets on a 15-3 run that put them up twelve. While the Mavs went into the fourth down eight, when Chris Paul left the game with 3:59 remaining, the Hornets were up 20, 98-78 as they won their sixth straight game since Tyson Chandler returned from the rescinded trade. Besides Paul’s wizardry, David West had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Tyson Chandler added 10 points and 11 rebounds and Rasual Butler added 18. The Mavs had 27 points from Dirk Nowitzki, 13 from Jason Kidd and 10 from Jason Terry.

Denver 106 Portland 90

Coming into this game off of back-to-back last second win against the Pacers, the Blazers were unable to match the pace of the Nuggets. After allowing them to bust out to a 32-18 lead after the first quarter, coming back in the third wasn’t enough as they ran out of gas in the final period,  and Denver took advantage. Coming back from a one-game team suspension, Carmelo Anthony scored 38 points for the Nuggets and had them up 15, 85-70 when he came out of the game with 10:55 remaining in the foruth. Unlike last time, when he refused to leave the game at the resquest of Coach Karl, earning him the suspension, he turned, and sprinted to the bench, sitting down to his teammates and coach getting a smile over his joke. With the Nuggets shooting 52% for the game, there was plenty to smile about as they took the 106-90 victory and maintained sole ownership of first place in the Northwest division. Besides Melo’s night, the Nuggets got 17 points from JR Smith, 16 from Nene and 15 from Linas Kleiza. The Trailblazers were led by 20 points from Brandon Roy, 19  from LaMarcus Aldridge and 15 off of the bench from Travis Outlaw.

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  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Head to head is overrated. Unless it’s MJ or Dream, they used to really assert themselves and torture their rivals. David Robinson was never the same after that series…

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    Last,people were calling the Hornets better than the Jazz.Now people are calling the Jazz clearly better than the Hornets and both are pretty much the same teams.No?

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    Last year*

  • Squirrel7

    Millsap has greatly improved since last season, and they’re getting strong play from players like Brewer and Miles. Whereas except for CP3, I don’t think any of the Hornets are playing significantly better than last season.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Z is right about that Dream v DRob matchup after DRob got the MVP. That was brutal.

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com/ BETCATS

    Im on a boat

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Man, yesterday I said Melo would get 40. He was thhiiss close. And if it had been a closer game, I think he would’ve gotten there easily. Whatevs, a nice shooting night for him and a good win for the Nuggs.
    Also, Portland is a nice young team but I don’t see them getting out of the first round. I just don’t.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    For real, BET? So no more High school for you these days?
    Man I love crusing around on a boat… there’s just something really dope about being on the water like that.

  • http://lastknickstanding.blogspot.com Bryan

    Damn I’m gonna get killed for this BUT Melo scores 38 with 2 rebounds as a 6’8 frontcourt player and everyone is fine with but Kobe scores 61 with 1 or no rebounds from the backcourt and he sucks? Being objective takes big backseat here most days.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    Well Bryan,anyone who says that Kobe sucks should automatically discounted as a rational human being.Same goes for,ahem,Tony Parker.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Objectivity is overrated.

  • http://lastknickstanding.blogspot.com Bryan

    Touche. Ill clarify Parker doesn’t suck because he’s putting up 20 a game in the nba, so he doesn’t suck compared to you or I . However I believe his shooting and passing skills are subpar for a point guard and when his quickness subsides he will be Sebastian Telfair.

  • The Seed

    Bryan your right, people flip flop on this site too much, people did rip Kobe for his 1 rebound as a shooting guard, but Melo gets 2 and everyone is happy he got 38 points on a shoot first team, play D later.

  • http://lastknickstanding.blogspot.com Bryan

    I like that though you got me.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    The game before Chris Paul destroyed the Mavs(remember, he’s done that before) Deron torched the Rockets and put on a great show as well.
    I’m biased towards Deron, but I think Chris is still better, namely because of his rebounding ability and his lower turnover rate.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    My view was always that CP3 was the better player,but Deron was the person I’d want running my team and consequently the better PG.This has changed slightly.And it’s very hard to root against Paul.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    Izzo
    You ain’t lying. I’ve never been a real Paul fan, but he’s killing so much that it’s becoming hard to maintain my dislike. I still prefer to watch Deron (I’m a sucker for a pull jumper) but Paul is balling.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    I was in love with Paul’s game from the first time I witnessed it. Call me a sucker, I guess. Deron is no slouch, but his game at Illinois just didn’t “wow” me.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    I think I actually grew a little dislike of Paul last year because of all the media fawning and the whole “David West was a actually a 300pound,teenage girl before he met Chris Paul” thing,but this year it’s near impossible to carry any form of dislike for him no matter what the media do.And that’s saying something.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    His numbers haven’t changed much from last year to this year. I don’t go by media hype, I watch the man do work. And the David West hate is laughable, at best.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Izzo

    TAD:Not his numbers,exactly-I always thought his numbers are slightly misleading,I don’t think he’s as good a rebounder as his numbers suggest,just being on a poor rebounding team kinda necessitates the numbers.It’s been his consistency this year that’s impressed me.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    I agree with Izzo, although my dislike started at Wake Forest when I admit that I erroneously thought he was an overrated punk. I didn’t like how he carried himself on the floor for some reason, and that kind of carried over to the league. I’m starting to warm to his demeanor though, but the hype about how wonderful he is as a person still grates on me.
    On on the other hand, I like Deron from jump street. He reminded me of JKidd at Illinois the way he passed the rock in their uptempo style, except when he needed to, he just took over scoring. If he’d had better running mates, they would have won a championship.

  • http://www.kicksonfire.com Anton

    Does Melo not know how to dunk? Why must he suck at everything?

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Melo was just channeling his inner George Gervin.

  • Bishop1405

    “Read this again: The ESPN online game highlights did not include Paul’s nutmeg on JT. Beyond embarrassing.”

    I second that…amazing!

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Allenp, I get what you’re saying about the media overhyping his squeaky clean image. I don’t know of him off the court and he seems like a stand up dude, but he sure acts like an a–hole on the court. Punching guys in the nuts (yeah I remember), always scolding teammates, taking his sweet-a– time to jog back in the huddle, just barking at dudes for no reason. Still the best pf in the game though, and it’s not that close.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Deron had a much different role at Illinois than CP3 had at Wake, too.

    I agree with Izzo, completely. I prefer the bigger point and would rather have him running my team.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    pg* / Cub, really ??? I totally respect your basketball knowledge so I find it even harder to believe that you would say that. Is Deron really a game changer? CP3 can just will his team to victories even though they shouldn’t really compete. IMO, he is part of an elite group of NBA players that could be competitive with ANY teammates. CP3, Kob, Lebron, Duncan, Wade. That’s it.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Z, They are both outrageously effective leaders and producers, so the difference, IMO, is negligible. I have always had a bit of a thing for Deron, though.

    Also, at that position, I love a bit more size.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    I also like to point out that, even though numbers are never the whole story, CP3′s avgs are better than Deron’s in every major category this year. pts, rebs, assts, steals, fg, ft, 3fg. I guess you can’t go wrong with either. Lemme put it this way: I believe that the Jazz would return the call and listen HARD if NO would propose CP3 for Deron. In the same situation, NO hangs up the phone immediatly.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    I would*

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    Z
    Um, you are on some other stuff talking about players would compete with any teammates.
    Kobe, Lebron, Dwade and Duncan, well maybe not Duncan, but all the rest of those cats have been on sucky teams. Their teams haven’t always been good. Sure, on a given night those players would get their numbers no matter what, but their teams would still suck if they had bums.
    Besides, Deron was holding his own early this season when he got back from injury, when he didn’t have a boatload of talent around him. Chris Paul started the season with the same players from last year, and they were slumming.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    Z
    It’s cool if you believe that about the Jazz, but where’s the proof.
    After all, didn’t the Jazz draft Deron before Paul? So they already made their choice.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Allenp, I have no proof, it’s an opinion. I believe that if the 2005 draft could be ‘mulliganed’, CP3 goes 1st, Deron goes 2nd and Granger goes 3rd. / LeBron was on sucky teams in his first years in the L and Wade had a terrible team last year but he was banged up all year. I honestly believe that those 5 guys RIGHT NOW would make any team (clips, kings, thunder included) competitive.

  • http://www.hibiahi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    “ciolkstar Posted: Mar.6 at 11:40 am
    For real, BET? So no more High school for you these days?
    Man I love crusing around on a boat… there’s just something really dope about being on the water like that. ” Chill dude, its just a hilarious song i was listening too via a youtube proxy. I am very much still in high school.

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    ryan, ive been a jayhawk for 25 years, no bandwagon rider here. also, some people forget that the jazz have had MORE playoff success than the hornets, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

  • Joey

    there is a distinct reason why cp is better than deron, they always talk about how the hornets only have cp and that he makes tc and dwest great players, when do you ever hear about dwill making anyone into an allstar like west, save someones carrer in chandler. You don’t, thats why i would take paul because he gets the same stats (better really) as deron but improves the players around him

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    joey, you’re right. the correct way to tell which player is better is by going with heresay and conjecture. deron doesnt make anyone better because nobody says he does, that logic is flawless.

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    I.don’t.like.CP3′s.game. It’s a subjective thing, not based on numbers, team record or anything tangible. I really, really dislike guys who obviously have the speed and handles to leave nearly everyone in their dust but prefer to bump, push off, undercut all the time to get fouls etc. Yes it’s a legit way of playing, but i really dislike that kind of game. He is incredibly effective, but still… there’s something about him and his mean streak that makes my blood boil.

  • Mo

    As Katt Williams said “Let haters hate, that’s they muthafu**in job”, fellas if you have 20 haters you need to find a way to get 40 of them muthafu**ers before the summer”. CP3 definitely receives the hate of a superstar. He must be doing something right. LMAO!

  • ChrisVillain

    Mainstream Media sort of Force feeds the IDEA of PAUL being better than williams to us as FANS, but watcheing them BOTH, i’d take deron williams over Chris Paul any day of the weak…. he’s a better shooter, better defender, better at running an offense in the halfcourt, and DOES’NT need screens nearly as much as paul does….and most importantly…Deron williamsnis oe of the best clutch performers in the league

  • ChrisVillain

    personally i feel as though the new orleans and Jazz are squad are relatively even in talent……

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