On the second day of the Chinese New Year, the Nets challenged the Suns on the road, and the four star guards in the league played together, each with a wonderful performance that made people addicted, and Chris Paul once again proved why he was called the "god of point guards".
The title of the god of point guards, derived from the English "Point Guard" derivative word "Point God", some people do not think that such a title, think that the use of such a word as God to describe a player who has never won a championship, nor has he won an MVP, it is a bit exaggerated.
In fact, the so-called "point guard god" describes Paul, as a traditional point guard, who has played the basic skills such as scoring, assisting, defending, and controlling the court to the extreme, and in the case of limited talent, he will do everything possible to make his teammates better and make his team closer to success. From this perspective, there's probably no one in the league who does a better job than Paul.
So far this season, the 36-year-old Paul has averaged a league-high 10.3 assists per game, but averaged just 14.8 points per game, so despite the Suns' long-term dominance of the league's top spot, Paul has never been a popular candidate for MVP.
But in the eyes of true insiders, Paul is undoubtedly one of the "most valuable" players in the league today.
Two ESPN commentators, Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins, talked about it when they were on the show a few days ago, arguing that Paul is definitely the best field commander in the league today.
"Who is the most valuable point guard in the league today? If it comes to the most valuable, no one can come out of Paul's right. Jefferson, who has worked with good point guards such as Kidd, Curry and Irving in his career, said, "Whether it's assists, steals, or performances at key moments in the fourth quarter, Paul can be said to be one of the best in the league today." He made few turnovers and was the league's number of assists in the last 5 minutes. Paul is omnipotent on the pitch, and although there are other scorers and role players around him, he is the catalyst for everything. ”
Perkins, who has been blowing about Morant lately, agrees: "Yes, I like Morant very much, he has the hope of becoming the signature of the future league, but I agree with you that when it comes to the ultimate field commander in the league, it is Paul. He's made everyone around him better, and now that Ayton is out of the game due to injury, his replacement is Biyombo with 16 points and 13 rebounds, thanks entirely to Paul. And Jordan Jr. and Griffin of the Clippers, both made better by Paul. ”
Making teammates better is a key indicator of good playmakers, and in today's game, there are players in both teams who deeply appreciate Paul's value.
The first is Paul's backcourt partner, Devon Booker, who was named an All-Star for the first time in his career before Paul joined the Suns in 2020, just playing a highlight season with 26.6 points and 6.5 assists. But he had been in the league for five years, and he had never tasted the playoffs, nor had he ever won more than 50% of the season.
In fact, to talk about personal ability, Booker proved himself with a 70-point performance in the second year of his career, but without victory as a footnote, he was only a "group leader of the empty cutting group" after all. Paul's joining changed everything, the 2020-21 season of the Suns, in addition to the Rubio and Oubre replaced Paul, the introduction of veteran Claude, the lineup almost did not change at all, but from the lottery area step by step, directly to the finals, Booker also reversed his "loser" image.
On the opposite side of the Nets, there are also two old acquaintances of Paul.
James Harden was able to win the league's assists and scoring kings without Paul, playing jaw-dropping horror stats, but only in 2017-18 with Paul's assistance did he lead the Rockets to a new record of the best record in team history, win the only MVP trophy of his career, and staged a peak showdown with the mighty Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, almost reaching the Finals (Harden had reached the Finals with the Thunder once in 2012, but was only the sixth man on the team at the time).
Griffin and Paul worked together for six seasons in Los Angeles, when the "City of Empty Connections" failed to break through the second round for various reasons, which was disappointing. But after leaving Paul, Griffin's most brilliant moment was only to lead the Pistons to the first round.
Today's game, Harden, Irving, Booker, Paul, the four star guards shine together, all have impressive performances, of which Booker shot 13 of 23 shots to get the highest 35 points of the game, Irving opened the unparalleled mode in the fourth quarter to play a difficult goal, and finally contributed 26 points, Harden Although the feel is not good, he also gave a double-double performance of 22 points and 10 assists, but to say that he really "controls the whole field", he has to count Paul.
20 points and 14 assists, if you only look at the data, Paul's performance today is not amazing, only after watching the game, you can deeply feel the terrible dominance of "everything under control". As with most games this season, what he has done on the pitch is simply: you can do it, you can come, you can't come again.
In the first quarter of today, Booker was hot, scoring 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the quarter, so Paul only made two shots, but he gave seven assists in a single quarter without any mistakes, and the Suns established a double-digit lead of 39-29.
In the second quarter, the Nets fought back, and Booker's offense was limited. 5.5 seconds before halftime, Griffin rebounded and made a basket to make the score 58-63. Paul took his teammate's bottom line serve and raced against time, a dragon past two defenders in a row, before the lights went on and whistled, and threw a shot to save the Suns a seven-point lead.
In the second half, the Nets launched another round of counterattacks, patty Mills hit a three-point shot, and then took the lead for the first time since the opening 8-7. But back, Paul made a foul under the basket, hit two free throws, and the next round, he hit an empty three-pointer at the top of the arc, leading a wave of 7-0 small climax, and the Nets just breathed a sigh of relief and were pressed back into the water.
With Paul playing, the Suns entered the final quarter with a nine-point advantage, and according to statistics, the sun's overall record this season is a terrible 30-0 with the lead into the fourth quarter.
But today the Suns' lead was not entirely unprotected, taking advantage of Paul's break, and the Nets continued to chase points under Irving's lead in the fourth quarter. Nine minutes and 41 seconds before the final, Irving hit a three-point shot from the bottom corner to close the score to 92-95, leaving only a one-goal gap.
Monty Williams saw that the situation was not good and quickly suspended paul, and Paul helped McGee to dunk Griffin as soon as he came out, and shortly after, he sent a wonderful ground pass in the middle of the semi-conversion, leading Bridges to a layup and causing a penalty, and the Suns stabilized the situation.
3 minutes and 14 seconds before the final, Paul sent his 14th assist of the game, Ayton received a dunk in the air, pulling the score to 116-102, and in the next leg, Mills missed three points, Nash simply withdrew all the main force and admitted defeat.
After this game, the Suns' winning streak was extended to 11 games, continuing to lead the Warriors by three wins and ranking first in the league. The Nets suffered a five-game losing streak, and between the Hornets, seventh in the East, there was only a 1.5-game advantage left.
Is Paul the best defender in the league today? I'm afraid not. In terms of personal ability alone, there are three people in today's game alone who are not under him.
Is Paul the most popular defender in the league today? Even less so. Not only did he fail to make it to the starters in this year's All-Star vote, with less than 950,000 votes, he could only rank seventh among all the backcourt players in the West.
But is Paul the league's most valuable guard today? The record says it all. And for Paul himself, that was the only thing he cared about.