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Chris Paul threatens the early playoff with Oklahoma City
Photo:
Kim Klement / AP
The change of the best point guard of the noughties was almost a sideline.
So many stars had switched teams during the 2019 NBA summer break, most of them voluntarily.
However, Chris Paul got the cold shower.
His old club, the Houston Rockets, preferred a younger, more dynamic playmaker, so Paul was sent to Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
The loss of two superstars within one summer, Westbrook and Paul George, hardly left any other interpretation: Oklahoma City wanted to rebuild.
In addition, the team from the American Midwest gathered a considerable collection of draft picks, plus a few talents - and Paul, a then 34-year-old legend with a long injury file.
It turned out differently than expected, Oklahoma City didn't crash.
The team stayed in the playoff ranks of the Western Conference for the entire season and also made it to the finals.
There could be the end of the night (3 a.m., stream: DAZN) in the first round, because Paul's ex-team Houston is 3-2 ahead in the best-of-seven series.
When it matters
Oklahoma City has come this far mainly because of its strength in close matches.
No team won more games in the main round 2019/2020 in which the gap was a maximum of five points five minutes before the end.
This is due to the three-man team from Paul, who scored the most points in such situations in the league, the German Dennis Schröder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Canada.
All three are nominally listed as point guards.
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Paul (r.) Gives Schröder and Gilgeous-Alexander (l.) Tactical instructions
Photo: Kim Klement / AP
Three playmakers on the field at the same time ensure creativity in tight final phases when the game usually becomes a bit more static.
Schröder is one of the fastest players in the league, Gilgeous-Alexander benefits above all from his good scoring instincts.
And Paul?
Paul directs the whole thing.
He organizes, looks for mismatches and gaps in defense, shouts commands and decides who of the trio gets the ball at what time and in which position.
The result is the most dangerous three-man combo in the entire NBA.
Paul is a literally brilliant basketball player who has been superior to his opponents since 2005, when he was drafted by the New Orleans Hornets.
He was voted the best rookie of his year and quickly rose to become an all-star, even an MVP candidate (most valuable player in the league).
He was never particularly athletic, Paul could neither jump over his opponents nor was he the fastest on the court. His secret: He knew
when
to change the pace.
And he still knows that.
"Point God"
The ability to catch the defender on the wrong foot, at the right moment, allows Paul to still shoot past younger, faster players and tear gaps in the defense after 15 years.
Added to this is his almost perfect mastery of the basics of basketball: footwork, dribbling, passing, defense, Paul masters all of this while half asleep.
Only six players in NBA history gave more assists, and Paul is also seventh in the steals.
Point guards are now closing themselves much more frequently than they used to be.
Paul is the exception, he comes from the school of John Stockton or Isiah Thomas - also with regard to their hard and insidious way of playing.
His younger colleagues nicknamed him "Point God" for his almost flawless execution of this role.
But Paul is not almighty.
That shows the playoff record of his career.
With the Hornets he only made it into the knockout round three times in six years and couldn't play a major role there.
However, Paul never had the right teammates to really play for a title.
So he moved to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2011.
There he succeeded in transforming the historically unsuccessful NBA team together with forward Blake Griffin and Center DeAndre Jordan.
Bad luck in the playoffs
Paul as the pass giver and two big jumpers as the receiver in the air - "Lob City" was born, one of the most spectacular teams in history. It was named after the "Alley-Oop" play, also known as "Lob".
When the going got important, the Clippers were often unlucky.
Either it was Griffin who missed important playoff games with injuries or Paul himself. In 2015, for example, the Clippers defeated reigning champions San Antonio Spurs with his heroic deeds, but in the decisive game Paul sustained a muscular injury to his thigh.
He couldn't prevent the end in the second round.
The following season he broke his hand in the playoffs.
The move to Houston followed in 2017, where it was similar.
In their first year together with James Harden, the Rockets led 3-2 in the conference final against the mighty Golden State Warriors.
Houston had two opportunities, one of them in its own arena, to beat Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant's super team, which had been declared invincible.
But the one after the fifth game pinched the thigh again.
Paul missed the sixth and seventh game - and once again the chance to reach the final because Houston lost without him.
The Rockets tried one more time until the opportunity arose to sign Westbrook.
The circle closes
14 years later, Paul returned to the arena that had been his home in his first season.
After Hurricane "Katrina" the Hornets had to play their home games in Oklahoma City.
"It's crazy how it comes full circle," Paul wrote on Instagram.
Now Paul has his back to the wall again in the playoffs, and against his old team, which no longer wanted him.
The fact that an intact team has formed from the leftover ramp Oklahoma City is one of the surprises of the already strange NBA season.
The team is a loose collection of talented but lackluster players;
it has to be managed - and who is better suited than the best playmaker of his generation, who is something like a god for his young teammates.
But for Paul it won't be enough for an NBA title.
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