Chris Paul: Why Paul's Heroics in Game 1 Shouldn't Surprise NBA Fans

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Chris Paul’s big game performance no surprise

When the Lakers vs. Hornets game needed a player to come up big, Chris Paul answered the challenge each and every time.

This wasn’t the game the Lakers expected. The Hornets, who had been living on dying on the health of Chris Paul’s knee all season, were supposed to get blown out by a team on a mission.

Instead the Lakers got punched in the mouth.

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You can blame Kobe’s bruised neck, or the surprise of a Game 1 underdog playing with aggression and emotion, but the Lakers got exposed, even if for a day.

It seemed that every time the Lakers mounted a comeback, Paul answered back with a big shot or a big stop. Those two things the Lakers were never able to do. The Lakers pushed and pushed but it was too little too late.

It was Paul’s game.

It’s what we’ve come to expect but yet are always surprised by. When the Lakers were trailing by six, Paul reached back and hit a jumper from the top of the key and buried the Lakers Game 1 hopes.

The problem for L.A, whether they had won or lost the game, already existed by halftime. Their defense proved to be their weakness. In a conference of teams that can score at will, it’s unlikely the Lakers will find themselves with an easy assignment defensively.

It was an opening you didn’t want to give a guy like Paul. In a year of Derrick Rose, Deron Williams and Rajon Rondo, plenty of people forget that there might not be a better floor general in the NBA than the man who resides in New Orleans.

The Lakers were reminded of that today. We all were.

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