L.A. RAM: Clippers point guard Chris Paul isn’t afraid to butt heads with opponents, and carries a chip on his shoulder dating back to his high school days, when top-choice college North Carolina overlooked him. (AP)
I love Chris Paul’s posture. I remind me of him. He doesn’t take even the slightest slights stoically. He gets both angry and even. Either on the spot or with the first chance that presents itself.
I second that commotion.
Earlier this season, I went to Philadelphia for the express purpose of pressing Paul one-on-one. Though the interviewing conditions were scarcely ideal, in one spontaneous story obviously still stuck in his craw he sized himself up: his serrated edge, self-esteem and why he plays (and lives) with a buffalo herd of chips on his shoulder.
Too small (5-foot-2) and not confident enough to play varsity ball his sophomore year at Winston Salem’s West Forsyth High School, Paul didn’t mushroom (eight-inch spurt) and flower until he was a junior.
Simultaneously, his body and game came into their own and he became the star of the team. Just as suddenly, colleges in the region picked up his fragrant scent. By midseason, Wake Forest and North Carolina State had offered Paul a full ride. They were not his first choices.
“I loved the Tar Heels,” he said, smiling that beatific smile, something he does most of the time, on and off guard duty, keeping the population off balance so no one knows what’s on deck. “I grew up following North Carolina. It was 13 miles away from my home in Lewisville. Since I was a little kid, that was the only school I wanted to play for.”
East Meadow’s Matt Doherty, a four-year starter at UNC where he was alternately shaded somewhat by Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Kenny Smith, was the Tar Heels’ coach at the time.
Doherty told Paul there might be a spot for him after the season. Apparently, he’d offered his last available scholarship and the chosen one was undecided.
“But there’s definitely room on my team for you as a walk-on,” Paul recalls Doherty generously informing him.
Paul escorted 26-4 Forsyth to the state semifinals. Shortly thereafter, Doherty offered him that precious scholarship he had yearned for as long as he could remember.
“I had waited patiently for that day to come,” Paul said somberly, his smile having run away from his face. “I wanted to know I was good enough to get one. As soon as it was offered, I called coach [Skip Prosser] and committed to Wake Forest.”
We’re down to what the NBA is pawning off as the Elite Eight. Three is more like it.
Clippers-Spurs:
En garde, or guard.
Who wouldn’t stop in the name of the love for Paul (knocked out by the Spurs in ’08 conference semis; seven games versus Tony Parker?
Pole-vaulting past the first round for the first time in a half-dozen semesters, perhaps LA can muck-up this series the way it did (with more than a bit of help from the hosts) in winning Game 7 at Memphis.
It certainly helps to have two of the NBA’s most gifted grunts in Reggie Evans and Kenyon Martin. Both defensive fiends got far more daylight and rebounds — a combined 19 in Game 7 — than accustomed due to Blake Griffin’s ceaseless commercial shoots (or is one of his limbs bothering him, I forget) and DeAndre Jordan’s inability to rebound and chew a bull stick at the same time.
Spurs might want to reactivate Bruce Bowen’s bag of dirty tricks for this series.
Do not be tempted to short-sell my Hedge Clippers like the Grizzlies did, especially after their Game 6 road raid. Paul’s groin is groaning, his ankle is permanently sprained and his expression is pained, so what else is new?
I’ll tell what else is new: People have begun to recognize Mo Williams carried LeBron James while they were Cavaliers teammates. What’s more, how wise was management to reject the Hornets’ demand for Eric Bledsoe in the Paul package! Out of service for most of the season, he quickly endeared himself to Vinny Del Negro and became a vital organ against Graceland.
What makes the Clips dangerous is also what makes them vulnerable…you never quite know which team is gonna show up. More often than not, they’ve played to the level of the competition.
Then, there’s the never-ending question of free-throw foibles especially in the wake of a 67-percent team effort in round one.
I know, nag, nag, nag.
Deeper than a Chilean mine, the Spurs, who haven’t advanced past the second rung in their past three tournaments, nevertheless, are battle-tested and inhumanely rested
No team (not named the Thunder) ever wants eight nights off between play dates (unless your guests just concluded a turbulent 7-game series), especially when manning a 14-game steamroller, including a 4-game, compression of the Jazz.
Keep in mind, Gregg Popovich taught Del Negro everything Vinny knows, but not quite everything Pop knows.
The Grizzlies attacked the rim, playing inside-out. Look for the Spurs to draw and kick, well, you know the rest. Head fakes will be in full session with foul trouble to follow.
Parker, by the way, steadfastly asserts he had nothing to do with the cancellation of “Desperate Housewives.”
Pacers-Heat:
Chris Bosh and second quarter strained abominable (from holding his new-born so long in a rocking chair, I’m guessing) should have put Miami at even more of a height- disadvantage, but you’d never know by the rebound numbers; 45-38 in the Heat’s favor after Indiana dominated the battle in the final regular-season matchup, 49-33.
Danny Granger’s slurred shooting (1-10) compounded that fracture. Frank Vogel exonerated him, underlining the inconvenience of using so much fuel to defend LeBron. Jim O’Brien, Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan blamed Jamaal Tinsley.
So, it would seem the Pacers, who had vanquished 16 of their last 20 challengers entering this series, have some work to do before tonight’s encore
If I were Larry Bird, I’d probably suggest to Vogel to pound the ball inside, as opposed to settling for 17 trifectas in Game 1 (as opposed to six for the Heat), and occasionally double LBJ or Dwyane Wade when they bring up the ball.
This just in: David Stern returned Vogel’s 15G fine after he accused Mitt Romney of flip-flopping.
Lakers-Thunder:
Maybe my ears are another part of my anatomy on the blink, but I thought I understood the eminently illegible Shaquille O’Neal say during pre-game that the eight-day layoff would hurt Oklahoma City….as if non-rest wouldn’t catch up to the Lakers sooner rather than later, and the rust wouldn’t wear off the Thunder midway through the first quarter at the latest.
I knew for sure my hearing had failed me moments later when Charles Barkley sounded like he predicted LA would win the series … citing the Thunder’s weak bench as one of the reasons.
Not even Barkley can be that much of a boob, I scolded myself. Even a notoriously unprepared dummy like him has to know James Harden, the league’s superior sixth man, plays for OKC.
OK, so let’s put aside that minor mistakes for the moment. Compared to whose nuclear subs are the Thunder’s reserves weak? The Spurs? No argument there. The Pacers? Right, again.
The Lakers’ understudies, on the other hand, are seriously scrawny. Barkley probably believes they’re still blessed with Lamar Odom, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Theo Ratliff and Joe Smith, but they’re down to Matt Barnes, one-game wonder Steve Blake, Jordan Hill, Troy Murphy, Devin Ebanks and Josh McRoberts.
Aside from Harden, OKC’s reinforcements — Nick Collison, Daequan Cook, Derek Fisher and Nazr Mohammed — are fairly productive and reliable.
Long before last night’s extended garbage time turned into 119-90 demolition derby, the Thunder’s stand-ins had outscored the Lakers’ alternates, 20-2.
Overall, the Thunder flaunt a multitude of mismatches, including Fisher vs. Billy Hunter.
Mike Brown might want to incorporate Phil Jackson’s Triangle Defense for Game 2.
Celtics-76ers:
I applaud the ref who made the crucial moving-pick call on Kevin Garnett that all but clinched Philadelphia’s 82-81 home court hijacking. Hopefully it’s not an aberration. Historically, this violation has been overlooked by the league, not only when the verdict remained in doubt, but throughout the course of games and entire seasons. Garnett got whistled for it this time.
Not to nit-pick, but where was the call in a critical juncture of last year’s Knicks-Celtics series?
Where, in point of fact, was the call the last hundred thousand times it was set illegally? Period!
Jimmy Kimmel made some powerful sense in a twitter immediately after TNT’s pre-game pap: “NBA suspends Metta World Peace 7 for the elbow, then uses it in promos to hype the game.”