Chris Paul Wins a Game for the Clippers That They Would Have Lost Last Season

I really wanted to write a different article.

Despite my fiancee pleading for me not to, I wanted to write about how her favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Clippers, had been shortchanged in the infamous "CP3 for everybody and the kitchen sink" deal sanctioned by Commissioner Stern last month.

They weren't short changed because they didn't get value back. Let's be serious here, they got back CP3 in the trade.

They were shortchanged because they didn't get the Chris Paul that the New Orleans Hornets once had. You remember, he was the superstar that opposing teams feared. The guy who might drop 17 dimes in a T-Mobile Rookie Challenge Game. The wily vet who returned from injury during the 2010-2011 season to put up a ridiculous 33 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and five steals his first game back.

That's the player the Clippers broke the bank for. A franchise point guard that cost them Eric Gordon and a the first-round draft pick from Minnesota in 2012.

Chris Paul, playing in just his fourth game with his new team, hadn't really done anything special enough to merit sports pundits' claims that the Clippers won the trade. He has had some good games. Like the game against the Chicago Bulls last Friday, a stat line that included 15 points, 14 assists, four steals and four rebounds.

While it was Chris Paul-ish, he didn't will his team to a win. That's what the Clippers mortgaged their team for. They wanted to take the next step. They wanted to win games they would have lost last year.

Then the Portland Trailblazers came to town. This was a team, who at the time was undefeated and playing very solid basketball.

Last season, the Clippers would have been almost certain to extend their two game losing skid to three.

Last season, if the Trailblazers had reeled off six straight points to open the fourth period, the Clippers, without a consistent quarterback on the floor, would have played indecisive turnover-prone basketball.

Last season, Blake Griffin or Eric Gordon might have forced the issue trying to get in position to get the ball from Baron Davis or Eric Bledsoe, resulting in a costly offensive foul.

That was last season.

This season, they rode their thoroughbreds, Blake and Chris, to the finish line.

Chris Paul didn't just force a crucial jump ball against Jamal Crawford, he won the tip.

Paul didn't just make an incredible layup during the closing quarter, he delivered a back-breaking clutch bucket.

He didn't just score 17 points and deal out seven assists, he maneuvered a young Clippers team through a playoff-atmosphere win. 

Twenty-three playoff games on his resume, and he wants more. That's the Chris Paul that had to be obtained at any price. It's the Chris Paul that the Clippers needed, and finally got.

Hopefully, it's the Chris Paul that is here to stay.