Paul redefines the 37-year-old point guard Can he reach the championship finish this time?

On May 6, 1985, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Charles Paul and his wife, Robin Jones, welcomed their second child, whom they named Chris Paul.

Now, that kid is 37 years old.

In the basketball world, the age of 37 is mentioned, and most of the content is related to James, paul is the one who was snubbed in that age group, but if you look at what he did at 37 and in his 17th season, you will get the evaluation given to James by those media and fans.

This guy is also growing backwards.

The commander of the first team in the regular season, the fifth assist king of his career, surpassed Nash in the all-time assist list to third place, and scored 20,000+10,000 assists for the first time.

Personal data and team records are in place, and Paul let his game continue to ferment, becoming a more and more fragrant wine.

Pulling back three years, when Paul was about to be sprayed out of the woods, rocket management made it clear that he would be traded, and Paul made a request to the team.

'Can you please stop sending me to a rebuilding team, I don't have much left in my career."

Paul got the answer that he didn't have any choice in this matter, and that there were people on the team who wanted to work with Westbrook, so the Rockets' first choice was the Thunder, whether Paul wanted to or not.

After that deal was completed, Paul waited three days without getting a message from the Thunder, which made his agent feel snubbed, but Paul was calm.

"They didn't call me, I'll call them."

In conversations with Thunder general manager Presti, Paul learned that the Thunder were working on a plan to trade again and that they might not leave Paul. The Thunder's thoughts instead inspired Paul to be competitive, and he made a plan with Presti that if Paul could help the Thunder's young players improve, Presti would send Paul to the team he wanted to go to a year later.

A year later, the Thunder, thought to be torn down and rebuilt, were brought into the playoffs by Paul, who averaged 8.2 more points per game than the previous season, and Paul returned to the All-Star after four years. Presti made good on his promise by handing Paul a roster of teams with Paul's old club, the Clippers, as well as strong teams like the Bucks and 76ers, as well as some weak teams eager for revival, all of whom were interested in Paul, who had a choice this time.

To Presti's surprise, Paul picked the Suns, who hadn't made the playoffs in a decade.

Paul's idea is also simple, he has experienced conflicts with the team's stars in the Clippers and Rockets, Paul's toughness will make some star teammates feel uncomfortable, there is no right or wrong, but it will become a fuse, when the team is not going well, it will be detonated.

In this year of the Thunder, Paul did not experience the locker room storm again, because the boys in Russia city listened to him, and Paul also taught him, such as Alexander, Paul trained with him every day, returned to Los Angeles to visit his family when there was no game on the weekend, and also took Alexander to practice on the private basketball court outside Paul's mansion.

The Sun gave Paul the feeling of being as energetic as the Thunder, and his talent level was even higher, but his integration into the Sun was not smooth, and in the first training session, Paul and Ayton quarreled.

The Sun was in a tactical drill when Paul, who was observing his teammate's position, suddenly roared, "Stop! DA (Ayton), you ran wrong! ”

Ayton was a little unconvinced, and he replied to Paul: "I'm not wrong, that's how I ran." ”

Paul got angry, he rushed over and grabbed Ayton's jersey: "Your position should be here, not the place where you just stood, you can't run a tactic anywhere, if you don't believe it, you can continue to try." ”

Ayton tried, and it was really wrong, he was a little embarrassed, but he did not want to be soft, but Paul smiled and walked over to Ayton and said a particularly practical word.

"DA, one thing to tell you, the big guys I've worked with have all got big contracts. So, you get the idea. ”

Ayton Joined Paul's special training group with Booker, and in addition to the team's regular training, he practiced with Paul. Ayton's change surprised Suns coach Monty Williams because "Dumbo" was known for never working overtime, and Paul's arrival brought Ayton's attitude to a new level.

"I was very tough with the DA in the beginning because I was tough," Paul said, "and I always told the management, the coach, that if they handed over to me someone who was indifferent to winning or losing, I would give him a taste of what real cruelty was." ”

Paul is not on top, what he does is different depending on the personality of his teammates, in the way he treats them. Paul had just joined the Suns when he called Booker. "Devon, I'm here to assist you." Paul said.

Lowering himself, which Paul had already begun to do during the Rockets, the injury to his hamstring prevented his changes from translating into desired results, but it was also that injury that gave Paul a deeper understanding of the stage of his career and what to do at this stage.

"After that injury, I changed my eating habits and learned how to extend my career through training." Paul said, "That injury was like a wake-up call, and if I hadn't had that experience, I probably wouldn't have played in the NBA." ”

There is no elixir of rejuvenation in this world, and the flow of time will inevitably sweep away some things, such as the speed and explosiveness of Paul who could once sprain his ankles, paul who came to the sun, let himself take a step back, forming the first three quarters of feeding the ball, the fourth quarter if needed to take over the game mode, this mode reached its peak in the sixth game of the 2021 Western Conference Finals, Paul in that game bombed 41 points of which 19 points came from the fourth quarter, personally split the door between him and the finals.

However, Paul failed to reach the top of the championship in 2021, and the Suns were pulled four times in a row by the Bucks after taking a 2-0 lead, and Paul became the backdrop for Holliday to give defense to the classic series. So, the doubts that had once dissipated returned, whether Paul could not play the highest-end innings, and whether the Sun gave him a 4-year, 120 million renewal contract was not faint, although that contract had two years of non-guarantee.

In the midst of doubts, Paul responded with the best record in assists and team history. It is worth mentioning that the Hornets, Clippers, Rockets and Suns' first record in the regular season in the history of the team was created in the period of having Paul, once may be accidental, four times is inevitable, whether it is young Paul or middle-aged Paul, can raise the team's ceiling.

Paul, who averaged career-low shots and game usage during the 2021-22 regular season, let himself take another step back, organizing tandems, and handing over scoring to guys like Booker, Ayton and Bridges.

Paul's game tank still has oil, but the reality of the 37-year-old makes him more cautious about using his oil, Paul is not unable to pull the knife, but choose when to draw the knife.

In the first game of the first round of the 2022 playoffs, Paul took 19 points and victory with 7 of 8 knives out of the sheath in the fourth quarter, 19 points on 7 of 10 in the third quarter, 10 points in the first half of game 6, and 10 points in the first half of the sixth game, and 23 points on 10 of 10 in the second half directly cut the Pelicans off the horse. In the second game of the second round, it was the fourth quarter, Paul scored 14 points on 6-of-7, and where the knife flashed, the Lone Ranger was "bleeding like a bet".

In the fourth quarter of the 2022 playoffs, Paul averaged 10.3 points and shot 64 percent from the field. Paul seems to have a toggle switch, the first three verses are strategizing, and the fourth section is bloody.

Chris Fourth Quarter Mr. Paul, this model comes from Paul's simple retro style of play, blocking and dismantling roll call, mid-range ending, this classical cutting defensive method, once regarded as inefficient in the small ball era, especially when Paul played with the Rockets, the team pursued the so-called "magic ball theory", Paul was told to shoot as little as possible from the middle distance, throw more three-pointers, although Paul did not agree with this.

"I've always felt that the mid-range shot is an essential weapon in the playoffs." Paul said.

In the 2022 playoffs, Paul scored 1.3 points per round as a ball carrier, the most efficient of the players who initiated at least six blocks per game, and his 61% shooting rate of the ball was also at the top of the list. Paul's fatal blocking is mainly due to the fact that he has made some incredible shots, and his shooting percentage in this year's playoffs is 72%, and only Paul has a shooting rate of more than 50% of the players who have averaged at least 5 shots per game in the league.

Why did Paul vote so accurately? What he said after the second game of the semi-finals may be a mystery.

"It all comes down to hard work, you have to do strength training, you shoot training, you control your diet, you pay attention to rest, and when you do all that, the next thing is to accept the results of the game."

Effort, not only competitive sports, but also in other areas of society, will often hear this word, listening to more inevitable eardrum fatigue. Real effort is defined by time, not a day, a week or a month, but a year after year of persistence, effort can be a time of enthusiasm, persistence is a long time to go all out.

The longer you stretch the time, the more difficult it is, especially after the age of 35, your body is almost irreversibly decaying, and you want to maintain a strong output at the highest level of competition, and the cost is more than double that of 25 years old.

If James raised the ceiling of the 37-year-old forward's combat strength, Paul is redefining the boundaries of the 37-year-old point guard's strength. At the age of 37, NBA all-time assist king Stockton averaged 11.1 points and 8.4 assists per game in the playoffs, Kidd, the second-on-the-second on the assist list, averaged 8 points and 7 assists per game at the age of 37, and Nash, who was fourth on the list, did not make the playoffs at the age of 37. Legendary point guards such as Oscar Robertson and Isaiah Thomas retired at the age of 37, and "Magic" Johnson returned to the Lakers at the age of 37, averaging 15.3 points and 6.5 assists per game in the playoffs, shooting 38.5% from the field.

Paul, 37, averaged 22.6 points and 9.9 assists in the playoffs and shot 58 percent from the field. Although today's sports and medical aspects are far better than the era of the previous point guards, don't forget that Paul is only in his early eights, suffered a knee injury at the age of 24, and then repeatedly failed in the playoffs because of injuries, he is not the chosen son of luck.

Paul's subversion of the 37-year-old point guard's cognition is a break in the midlife crisis, the physical regression is the crushing of the years, experience and technology are the gifts of the years, Paul uses gifts to achieve the anti-suppression of the years, this suppression will have a time limit, everyone will eventually shake hands with the years, but before that moment comes, Paul will stubbornly give his counterattack.

In this basketball year when veterans are out, the persistence of 37-year-old Paul is in front of the wheel of the times, and no one knows whether he can achieve the expected success, but at least he spells out hope, proving that unremitting efforts are still a beacon that illuminates the other shore in the terrifying waves.