NBA Playoffs 2011: Derrick Rose and the Top 20 Point Guards Remaining
The NBA playoffs have already seen a handful of dominant performances by point guards.
Without Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls might be down two games in their opening series against the Indiana Pacers. Without Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder would not have won Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. Without Chris Paul, the Los Angeles Lakers would have steamrolled over the New Orleans Hornets.
In a year that was supposed to be all about Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and the Boston Celtics, it's the point guards who are stealing the show.
Here's a list of the top 20 point guards still playing in the playoffs.
20. Mario Chalmers
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The first half of the regular season was an audition for Mario Chalmers.
Coach Erik Spoelstra gave the former Kansas Jayhawk every opportunity he could to earn the starting point guard role, but by the time All-Star break came around, the decision was eventually made to bring in Mike Bibby for the postseason.
Chalmers still gets around 20 minutes a night, but in Game 1, he only connected on one of his seven shots and in Game 2 he had two turnovers to go along with only one assist.
19. Derek Fisher
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It feels somewhat harsh to place a five-time NBA champion this low on the list, but at this stage in his career, Derek Fisher is becoming a liability to his team.
Yes, he might hit a buzzer-beater at some point in these playoffs, like he seems to do every other year, but right now, Fisher is unable to guard the elite point guards in the league. Chris Paul terrorized Fisher in Game 1 and Phil Jackson will probably have to switch Kobe Bryant over on Paul at some point in this series.
Your starting point guard has to be able to defend, and Fisher's age is slowing him down too much to be considered one of the top point guards remaining.
18. Mike Bibby
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Playing point guard for the Miami Heat is not a very important role offensively. Since LeBron James and Dwyane Wade hold the ball in their hands so much of the time, Bibby's only real job is to hit open shots.
He hasn't exactly thrived at this.
Bibby has fired up 12 three-point shots so far and has made only three of them. He turned it over three times in Game 1, but responded with zero turnovers and three assists in Game 2.
Defensively, he's at a disadvantage against Jrue Holiday, but he's held his own better than say, Derek Fisher.
17. A.J. Price
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A.J. Price has had to play a larger role in this series than he probably expected. He has done a pretty good job in his relief minutes of Darren Collison.
In Game 1, Price played his normal role logging 14 minutes off the bench and chipping in a solid eight points on 50 percent shooting. In Game 2, Darren Collison went down with an injury, and Price responded with 24 minutes of competitive basketball.
The five turnovers are far too many, but considering he's going against one of the best defenses in the league, the statistic is at least a little bit understandable.
There is a difference between good turnovers and bad turnovers. Derrick Rose had his fair share of bad turnovers in Game 2, whereas Price's mistakes were tied in to his efforts of hanging with the top-seeded Bulls.
As a backup point guard on the No. 8 seed going up against the MVP, Price had to be aggressive and continue to attack. Turnovers happen when you play like this, but Coach Vogel would much rather have five turnovers in a close game than zero in a game they lose by 20 because Price did not take any chances.
16. Kirk Hinrich
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There will be a lot of scrutiny on Kirk Hinrich throughout this series, since he was brought in to do a better job for the Atlanta Hawks than Mike Bibby.
Winning a road game against the Orlando Magic, a team that humiliated the Hawks last year, is a pretty good start.
The stat line of 13 points, five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes of action is solid, but Hinrich's impact on the game goes much deeper. Hinrich had a plus-21 point differential when he was on the floor. This is nearly 10 points higher than Joe Johnson and almost 15 points higher than both Josh Smith and Al Horford.
Jameer Nelson scored much easier on Jamal Crawford than he did on Hinrich. Hinrich has unexpected quickness (code for he's quick while being white) and his 6'4'' size is a problem for the 5'11'' Nelson.
15. Jarrett Jack
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The New Orleans Hornets are the most dangerous team in the league at the point guard position. There's no way you can ever get the same production out of your backup point guard as you do with Chris Paul, but Jarrett Jack gives the Hornets a starting-level, experienced floor general to come in for 20 minutes a night.
In Game 1, Jack had 15 points, five assists and four rebounds. He also committed zero turnovers. When Jack is in the game, you don't have to worry about Chris Paul needing to rush back onto the floor, because Jack can not only hold his own, he can sometimes outplay the opposing team's starter.
With Jack included, the Hornets got 48 points, 19 assists, 11 rebounds, four steals and two turnovers out of the point guard position.
Put these numbers into perspective, the 19 assists from Paul and Jack accounted for 40 direct Hornets points. Add that to the 48 points they scored, and the two Hornets point guards can be directly tied to 88 of their team's 109 points. That is only direct points too—the other 21 points were probably a result of Jack and Paul's ability to set up this offense.
That is incredible production, and is the only reason the Hornets won Game 1 against the highly favored Lakers.
14. Ty Lawson
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Like the New Orleans Hornets, the Denver Nuggets have two high-level point guards that they can throw at the opposition. I slightly favor Raymond Felton over Ty Lawson, but I would be glad to start my team with either of them.
Lawson had a solid stat line of 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in Game 1. Lawson's quickness is hard to guard and he has the ability to either run the offense, or get to the rim and score for himself.
13. Raymond Felton
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Like I said, it's very close between Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton.
The reason I lean toward Felton is mainly because of the first half of the season for the New York Knicks. His name was often mentioned as a reserve for the 2011 All-Star Game, and he was the quiet driving force of that team behind the big games of Amar'e Stoudemire.
The Denver Nuggets experienced his production in Game 1. Felton scored 12 points and dished out eight assists. Lawson is faster, but Felton is more reliable running the offense. Both can score, and when both are on the floor together, it becomes a matchup nightmare for the opposing team.
12. Jameer Nelson
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Jameer Nelson needed to score to keep the Orlando Magic somewhat in Game 1. Without his 27 points, the Magic would have been blown out of their own gym despite Dwight Howard's dominance.
The positives are there for Nelson. He's a great outside shooter, he scores a lot of his points in the fourth quarter and he gets the ball to Howard for plenty of easy dunks. The problem with Nelson is he doesn't get the rest of his teammates as involved as much as a high-level point guard should.
Nelson only had one assist in Game 1. The rest of the team scored 20 points. The Magic will need Nelson to be able to break down the Atlanta Hawks defense and make their offense more than a two-man show.
11. Mike Conley
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Mike Conley is neither overrated nor underrated.
First of all, Conley should average 10 assists with the supporting cast around him. Every time he gets the ball into Zach Randolph, it's almost guaranteed points. Marc Gasol is also becoming a reliable option around the rim. He has tons of talented scoring guards around him and the Grizzlies make a lot of their points off of steals, which usually result in more assists for Conley.
To crack the top 10, he needs to be putting together 15 points, 10 assists and two turnovers a game rather than the four turnovers he had in Game 1. The options around him are so talented that all he needs to do is get the ball to them where they can score.
10. Jrue Holiday
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The Philadelphia 76ers are outmatched at nearly every position against the Miami Heat. Point guard is not one of them.
Jrue Holiday has done a solid job in the first two games of this series. Playing against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James is a nightmare as a point guard, because they can come out of nowhere for steals. However, Holiday has only turned the ball over twice so far.
Holiday is averaging 15.5 points per game and is shooting 50 percent from behind the arc. Without Holiday, both games would have been 30-point Heat victories.
9. Andre Miller
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Andre Miller is a big, physical point guard. He has plenty of weapons around him, but he gives the Portland Trail Blazers scoring of his own on high-percentage shooting.
Miller is the type of guy you can rely on to play solid, low-mistake basketball. He requires a physical point guard to defend him, which not all teams have, while still remaining quick enough to guard the opposing team's faster guys.
8. Chauncey Billups
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We will know more about Chauncey Billups' importance to his team after Game 2 tonight.
Billups is a proven winner. He's one of two point guards on this list who have NBA Finals MVP trophies in their possession. Granted, he won the award almost a decade ago, but Billups still has the big-game shooting ability, the tight defense and the decision-making that helped the Detroit Pistons win the title years ago.
When Billups is on the floor for the Knicks, the Celtics have to worry about three guys. When he's out, the Celtics know that Toney Douglas can sometimes hurt them, but can focus all of their attention on stopping Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. With the game on the line, like it was in Game 1, the Celtics knew the ball was going to either Carmelo or Amar'e. If Billups is on the floor, they have to worry about three clutch performers.
7. Darren Collison
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Until the injury in Game 2, Darren Collison was holding his own against Derrick Rose.
This is by no means an easy task, but Collison has risen to the challenge. Collison will never go off for 35 points like Rose seems to be able to do any night he wants, but if the Indiana Pacers can get the Game 1 production out of Collison for the rest of the series, things could get really interesting.
Collison had 17 points, nine assists, six rebounds and two steals in his quality Game 1 performance. A.J. Price is a good backup, but the Pacers will need Collison if they hope to stretch this series out.
6. Tony Parker
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Tony Parker is the only other player on this list who has an NBA Finals MVP like Billups. Unlike Chauncey, Parker's is from only four years ago.
Parker had a solid Game 1, scoring 20 points, dishing out five assists and picking Mike Conley for three steals.
A healthy Manu Ginobili will also raise Parker's effectiveness. He doesn't have the ability to simply dump the ball into Tim Duncan for easy baskets, but instead has to be creative with the offense. With Ginobili on the floor, the defense will shift its focus to the Argentinian star and Parker will then be able to hit open threes or make the extra pass to one of their many lethal outside shooters.
Duncan cannot carry this team the way he used to, which puts the pressure on Parker and Ginobili to get this team out of the first round.
5. Jason Kidd
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Who would have thought the 38-year-old Jason Kidd still had it in him?
Game 1 was a throwback to the explosive Kidd we saw on the New Jersey Nets 10 years ago. Kidd scored 24 points and hit 6-of-10 three-point shots. He controlled the tempo of the game, played hard defense on Andre Miller and gave the Mavericks the energy they needed in 34 minutes of action.
If the Mavericks can get this type of production out of Kidd on a nightly basis, they will get through this series and possibly challenge the Los Angeles Lakers in the next round.
4. Rajon Rondo
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Even more so than Mike Conley, Rajon Rondo has great options around him. He should be getting 10 assists every night.
What separates Rondo, is his ability to not only dish out assists, but go in and grab rebounds. In Game 1, Rondo nearly had a triple-double with 10 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. Most importantly for the Celtics, Rondo only turned the ball over once.
To move up this list, Rondo has to return to his beginning-of-the-year self when he was averaging nearly 15 assists per game.
Also, what keeps Rondo out of the top three is teams can leave him open in ways they cannot do with the three point guards above him.
3. Russell Westbrook
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Imagine a slightly less dominant Derrick Rose scoring nearly as many points, but in the shadow of the NBA's leading scorer.
Russell Westbrook had a monster Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. He's able to carry the Thunder offense when Durant goes cold and still manages to dish out plenty of assists, even when there's only one other reliable guy to go to.
The only concern with Westbrook is sometimes he plays so fast, that he loses control and turns the ball over. Toward the end of Game 1, he had a few turnovers that could have cost his team the game. Luckily, these were overshadowed by his scoring and late-game assist to Kendrick Perkins.
2. Derrick Rose
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Derrick Rose has been the most exciting player to watch so far in the NBA playoffs. He's carried his team through these two early scares and is posting up a ridiculous stat line of 37.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 6.0 APG.
It's hard to find holes in Rose's game, but his three-point shooting and turnovers certainly stand out as potential roadblocks for the Bulls.
Rose has only hit 2-of-14 three-point shots. He doesn't have to be a three-point shooter for the Bulls, but if the shots are not falling, he should not continue to shoot that many of them.
As for turnovers, the six he had last night were far too many for an elite point guard.
Rose is the best scoring point guard on this list and he can certainly take games over, but he needs to play a little more controlled basketball for his team to win in the later rounds.
1. Chris Paul
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Derrick Rose has Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer surrounding him.
Russell Westbrook has Kevin Durant.
Chris Paul has...
Chris Paul's Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers was as good of a game as a point guard can play. He scored 33 points, more than Westbrook and only a few baskets behind Rose, but dished out more assists, grabbed more rebounds, had more steals and turned the ball over less than his younger competition.
The Hornets do not have a lot of talent around Paul, but yet, he finds a way to make it work. While Rose and Westbrook might be able to score more points, they tend to play the game more like shooting guards.
Paul, on the other hand, plays the point guard position the way it's meant to be played, and does it to near perfection. He plays under control, he is humiliating Lakers defenders and he gets his teammates involved, while still scoring plenty of points himself.
Chris Paul may not be getting as many headlines, but he is the best point guard in this year's NBA playoffs.
