Chris Paul breaks NBA record for fifth career 2-0 series lead, and legacy pigeons will sing

this phoenix suns destroyed Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks With a 123-90 deficit of as many as 46 points in Game 7 on Sunday, that wasn’t even as close as the 33-point margin would suggest. Chris Paul He didn’t make his first basket until the Suns trailed by 40 at 7:26 of the third quarter. He had a point at halftime. Finished with a completely useless 10 points and minus 39 points, the worst single-game point differential of his career.

I don’t want to talk about Paul’s legacy. The Suns didn’t lose because of Paul, though he certainly didn’t do anything to help them win. He’s one of the top five best point guards in the game, and no, one game doesn’t change that. Paul’s late-career surge was a marvelous chapter in his Hall of Fame career, and the many playoff debacles associated with him were, at least in part, the product of some of the cruelest injury luck imaginable.

Still, the results are hard to get rid of, or rather, they are easy to catch. It was the fifth time in Paul’s career that he has gone 2-0 in the playoffs after the Suns won the opening two games of the series against Dallas. Unfortunately, this is an NBA record.

It got worse.Five games into a 2-0 lead, Paul’s team didn’t even make it to Game 7, meaning they lost four straight, like last year’s Finals against Bucks. The only player to lose three games 2-0 is Blake Griffinas we all know, he is Paul’s teammate Los Angeles Clippersunder Paul, who became the first team in history to lose five straight playoff series, they lead at some point.

Paul, Named publicly by Patrick Beverley on Mondaywas 3-5 in the knockout rounds in his career.

He lost Game 7 of his last four.

Also, the crash list you see above doesn’t even include Paul who is 3-1 up scissors blow to Rockets In 2015, the Rockets lost to a 3-2 lead over him warrior 2018. Of course, Paul didn’t play the last two games of the Golden State Series after straining a hamstring in Game 5. This really shouldn’t be counted on his ledger. But it does. These conversations are not for context.

But again, facts are facts. If we’re going to bow down to Luka Doncic’s rising genes, the converse must also be true, at least to some extent. Paul has had plenty of big games and moments in his career, but there’s no question that he’s often completely disappeared when it matters most. Some people only have it when it matters most. Doncic has it. Omg, does he have one.

Despite exceptions, maybe Paul just didn’t have the big game it factor. It pains me to say that.but James Harden Just got chopped for his latest knockout dud, and while I don’t think Paul deserves the same questioning, if only because you can never question Paul’s effort or commitment to winning or even staying in shape, I guess fair is fair.

After Phoenix’s 2-0 win over Dallas, Paul averaged 9.4 points, 5.8 assists and 3.6 turnovers in the final five games of the series. Of course, the Suns lost four of those games, and Paul never took more than nine shots. passive? The defense he faces? It’s almost always both, but Harden doesn’t benefit from skepticism, and neither does Paul for someone bent on taking the position.

I usually don’t give up my opinion. But I just don’t know which way to go. I found Paul to be not only an all-time great player, but also a pretty damn key player. The latter obviously doesn’t match up with these postseason debacles, but I’d say it’s a team sport, other than that, blaming Paul’s loss on just his own choking work is discrediting the ball that beat him. team and players.this guy hit Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo And now, Luka Doncic has a chance to win the championship the last 3 times.

Paul is great, but he’s not as good as any of those guys. Hardly anyone who’s ever played a game is as good as those guys. So let us first thank them. Then, after that, if you want to slander Paul as a playoff chokehold, go for it. I would not do that, but I cannot deny that there are facts to support this position.