Introducing… Chris Paul
Posted by: ticktock6 in CP3 Will Eat Your Soul, CP3 for MVP, HypeMeter, Playoffs 08
So here’s how it happens.
I’m in Tampa at a dinner, and I keep texting for the score. The Hornets are down by 12 at the half. The next time it’s 6. Five minutes later it’s 5. The last time I check it’s 68-65. I leave to go watch the rest of the game in the hotel bar. On the way I get a message from mW. It just says, “Wow… Go Hornets!”
And I know. I just know.
I walk up to the bar, and there in ESPN HD, the first thing I hear is, “Chris Paul has taken over this game.” New Orleans has a six-point lead.
Someone says, “There are still 9 minutes left.”
I said, “You know how many times this season the Hornets have come from behind in the second half at home and then given up the lead? Never.”
And I watch as he smokes a double team, weaves around a third defender, and takes it effortlessly right up the middle to the basket, like a dancer. And I listen as the commentating on this game stops being about Dirk Nowitzki, or Jason Kidd, or about the Mavs at all. With 35 points, 10 assists, 4 steals, and only one turnover, the “MVP!” chants thundering down, Chris Paul has said an emphatic, “Hell no. This is my party.”
It is a gorgeous thing to watch.
NBA Playoffs, meet Chris Paul.
CP3 HypeMeter: Paul finds his groove in winning playoff debut, Paul trumps experience in playoff debut. But SI gives a little bit of hate.
Entries (RSS)
April 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Here’s another couple facts. CP baskets in the 2nd half, 10. Mavs 9. Fourth most points scored in a playoff game by a Hornets player, 35. By Chris, in his first playoff game ever. Believe.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I told MW, I don’t have the time or resources to make it happen, but there should be a sign that says “Where playoff experience happenED”.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Let’s just say I’ll wait for Game 5 to make anything like THAT. Because, hello, karma.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Yes. No jinxing allowed.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
[…] you’re used to seeing it, that what you’re watching is the future unfolding. Sometimes you’ll get a glimpse, you’ll get those shivers. But it’s easy to forget that, this year at least, the revolution was not televised. […]