NBA Playoffs: Chris Paul Turns Back the Clock in Embarrassment of L.A. Lakers
It seems like ages ago, but it was only spring of 2009 when Chris Paul added yet another stellar campaign to his all-star resume with averages of 22.8 points, 11 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. Nine out of 10 people would’ve told you he was the No. 1 point guard in the NBA without hesitation.
By the fall of 2009, fantasy rankings projected Paul first overall, and he was regularly drafted before LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant. The face of the New Orleans Hornets was set to stake his claim as a serious candidate in the upcoming season’s MVP race.
On January 29, 2010, Paul was putting the finishing touches on his Western Conference Player of the Month award against the Chicago Bulls. In the closing seconds, he chased down a ball headed out of bounds and tore the meniscus in his left knee in the process.
Originally expected to be a four-to-six-week recovery period, Paul missed seven weeks. He returned for seven relatively unproductive games by his standards. With New Orleans out of the playoffs and Paul obviously less than 100 percent, the decision was made to shut him down for the remaining four games.
That summer, after a lackluster season and coaching change, rumors swirled that Paul was going to demand a trade. Fans everywhere were buzzing with speculation that he might target their favorite team as his preferred destination.
Following a meeting of the minds with head coach Monty Williams, Paul was back on board and seemed satisfied with the direction the team was headed.
Trade chatter subsided, and the 2010-11 season kicked off. By default, Paul was selected as an all-star starter, but his game was noticeably deficient. Something just wasn’t right. Was he still working his way back from the knee injury, or had it permanently impeded his freakish ability?
As the playoffs approached, Derrick Rose became the clear-cut MVP front-runner and Deron Williams made headlines as the new face of the New Jersey Nets. Meanwhile, Paul averaged career lows across the board and broke the 30-point barrier just once in 80 games.
Evidently dethroned as the league’s top point guard, Paul and the Hornets were flying under the radar and squeezed into the playoffs as a No. 7 seed. Their first-round matchup versus the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers looked like a classic case of David and Goliath.
The Lakers were expected to roll over the Hornets in what was assumed to be the most uneven pairing of all postseason showdowns. Nobody was prepared for the way in which Game 1 would unfold.
In the words of Charles Barkley, Chris Paul had found the Hot Tub Time Machine.
Taking the Staples Center by storm, Paul and the Hornets controlled the game like no one had previously seen; they set a playoff record for fewest turnovers with just three, primarily due to Paul’s superb offensive management.
Even more impressive, Paul single-handedly shredded the Lakers defense with 33 points, 14 assists, seven rebounds and four steals in a 109-100 stunner. Out of 3,274 total playoff games, Paul is the fourth player in history to put up numbers of this caliber, and this performance places him in the company of Hall of Fame legends Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Walt Frazier.
While it is highly improbable Paul will duplicate this effort in Game 2, he has certainly grabbed our attention once again. Forty-eight nearly flawless minutes was all it took for Chris Paul to remind us just how uniquely gifted he still is.
