Chris Paul: Los Angeles Clippers Savior
The Chris Paul saga that culminated this past offseason was ugly. A trade that would have sent Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers was nixed and any hope of Paul leaving the New Orleans Hornets was fading until a trade right before the short preseason started when the Hornets traded Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers.
This trade thus started what is known today as Lob City. This trade made the Clippers relevant. Now when you look at the Staples Center, it is no longer considered just as the Lakers’ home floor that is shared by the Clippers, it is now considered as both the Lakers and Clippers home courts.
You can thank Paul for that.
The Clippers were arguably still good without Paul however with just Blake Griffin under their belt last season, the team was 32-50 and if the team did not live up to the high expectations then you could have kissed head coach Vinny Del Negro goodbye. However, the Clippers exceeded expectations and made a play for a Pacific Division title only to lose out to the Lakers.
The team made the postseason for the first time since 2005-06 and they are slowly getting by the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round thanks to the leadership that Paul brings to the court.
Monday night in Game 4, Paul scored eight of his 27 points in overtime and hit two consecutive jumpers in the final 1:16 to solidify the Clippers win and to put them up 3-1 in the series.
So far this series, Paul is leading the team with 23.5 points per game, 8.8 assists per game and five rebounds per game. Paul leads the team in points and assists per game and is third in rebounds per game.
Paul has been a godsend for this team since day one. He has been the deciding factor in every game, bringing a leadership and intensity that the team has not seen a very long time. Paul is the deciding factor to bring the team to an NBA Finals appearance. If they win this series they will have to go through San Antonio and as everyone knows that is an incredibly hard challenge.
The next game in this series is Wednesday at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
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