A League of Their Own
Posted by Andrew on April 25, 2008
After watching Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant almost single-handedly win two games apiece for their respective teams, it became obvious that these are the three prime-time players in the 2008 NBA Playoffs. Sure, there are a slew of other superstars in this year’s playoffs, but these three are beginning to set themselves apart from the rest.
Those of you who have watched Chris Paul carve up the Mavericks in his first two games of his playoff career, have to be impressed. He’s just balling on a completely different level than everybody else in this series. I’ll admit, I was the one pumping Dallas as the winner of this series less than a week ago, but as much as I’m refusing to say this series is over, its clear who the best player in this series is. Its not last season’s MVP award winner, Dirk Nowiztki and its not the Hall-of-Fame point guard Dallas acquired before the trade deadline who was supposed to put them over the top — its clearly CP3. He’s just abusing J-Kidd, making him look really old, and making it look as if the New Orleans Hornets now have themselves the leagues best point guard. And he doesn’t even turn 23 until next month. We stacked him against other notable point guards during their playoff debuts, and so far, he’s already looking like a stud. The key for him is whether or not he can keep it up for more than just two games.
Here’s a look at how CP3 stacks up against other notable point guards in their playoff debuts:
Oscar Robertson, 1962, Cincinnati Royals, age 23 [4 Games, 28.8 PPG, 11 RPG, 11 APG]
Magic Johnson, 1979, LA Lakers, age 20 [16 Games, 18.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 9.4 APG, 3.1 SPG]
Isiah Thomas, 1984, Detroit Pistons, age 22 [5 Games, 21.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 11 APG, 2.6 SPG]
Jason Kidd, 1997, Phoenix Suns, age 23 [5 Games, 12 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 9.8 APG, 2.2 SPG]
Deron Williams, 2007, Utah Jazz, age 22 [17 Games, 19.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 8.6 APG, 1.3 SPG]
Chris Paul, 2008, New Orleans Hornets, age 22 [2 Games, 33.5 PPG, 4 RPG, 13.5 APG, 3.5 SPG]
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are both playing out of their minds because of the fire that has been lit underneath of them by opposing players. First, it was DeShawn Stevenson calling LeBron “overrated,” and on Wednesday night it was J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets just egging Kobe on with trash talking, which only led to making himself look foolish, as Bryant dropped 49 points and 10 assists on him. This just goes to show why J.R. Smith is a knucklehead, though most of us already pegged him as one. You just don’t mess with one of the biggest and baddest players in the world unless you want to look like an absolute fool. As much as I dislike Number 24, I thoroughly enjoy watching him punk guys who should know better. You’re going to run your mouth at arguably the best, most competitive and driven player in the league? Real smart.
The writing was on the wall in that one. After all, with all the talk over the last few days about how Chris Paul should be named the leagues MVP this year, leave it to Kobe to drive a stake right through the heart of the Nuggets and drop half of a hundred on them. The difference between Kobe last year and this year, is that he now has a supporting cast and he’s willing to rely on them from time to time. He’s now making the players around him better, which has been the knock on him in previous years, yet he still has that killer instinct. Let me be clear that Chris Paul is a sick, sick player and a guy who’s going to win the MVP award at some point — just not this year.
As for LeBron, the first two games against the Wizards were simply punishment for disrespecting the leagues best overall player, and as I’ve said before, they awoke the sleeping giant. His 62 points, 15 rebounds, 16 assists and 4 blocked shots in the first two games is just a glimpse of what we can expect from this kid throughout the playoffs. Sure, the Cavaliers got blown out in Game 3 at Washington Thursday night, but that blowout victory the Wizards posted was likely just enough motivation to see LeBron have another huge game the next time these two teams meet. I’m expecting a huge night for the King.
* Send comments of questions about this story to ajohn135@gmail.com
April 25, 2008 at 1:58 am
Some feel that Lebron, Kobe, and CP3 are the three premier players in the league today, and they’re certainly showing that during the Playoffs. It’ll be interesting to see how LeBron responds to the Game 3 blowout in Washington. BTW, did you hear the Washington crowd chanting “overrated” at the end of the game? That’s idiotic. They had to be talking about the Cavaliers, because I doubt that many people would be stupid enough to chant that about LeBron, yet the Cavaliers overrated? That doesn’t make any sense because nobody outside the state of Ohio thinks they’re a top ten team in this league.
April 25, 2008 at 1:40 pm
These three are why some people are calling this the best playoff in years. There are so many other great players in the playoffs this year, but these guy truly are playing above the rest and it should be interesting to see if they can keep it up. Other guys have put up similar numbers but none have done it while winning the first two games of their respective series openers.
April 26, 2008 at 12:02 am
You can go ahead and toss Tony Parker’s name in this mix. There are several player who’ve put up huge numbers during the playoffs, but not many have won their first three games and put up huge numbers in the process. He has close to 100 points and 20 assists in three wins so far.
April 26, 2008 at 12:10 am
Yes, Parker’s 99 points in three games is very impressive and he has to be in the conversation for one of the top three point guards in the game today. The kid is only like 25 and has three rings, plus he’s killing people in the Playoffs.
April 26, 2008 at 12:16 am
Parker also has 24 assists in three games. His 41 and 12 against the Suns was just sick. Didn’t Popovich try to trade him for J-Kidd three years ago? They certainly wouldn’t be in their current position if that had actually happened.
April 26, 2008 at 10:26 pm
If Parker keeps playing at a high level for a few more years, by the time his career is over he’ll have to be in the conversation for one of the top point guards in league history …
April 27, 2008 at 11:00 pm
There are some great individual performances going on right now in the playoffs (sadly none really on the Jazz, where Okur and Boozer are stinking it up, and Williams hasn’t been filling up the box score like he did in March). But I’m surprised how many people wanted to predict that this would be one of the best playoffs ever before it even started. It’s looking to be kind of a dud so far. Only one series, the Pistons-Sixers series, is guaranteed to go 6 games. We could have at least 4 of the 8 series over in 5. Lebron and the Wizards, Suns-Spurs and Mavs-Hornets aren’t as competitive as was thought, and there have been quite a few pretty ugly blowouts. The Spurs and the Cavs will probably advance easily after having been throttled in game 3 of their first round matchup. The Jazz could advance in 5 games, after getting really weak performances from 2 of their 3 best players through the whole series.
April 28, 2008 at 12:06 am
Deron Williams has had a great series against the Rockets, but they haven’t been dominant in that series. A sweep would’ve likely put in in this category. LeBron team hasn’t swept, but he’s been so dominant that it doesn’t really matter. They’ll close the Wizards out in five at Cleveland.
April 28, 2008 at 4:19 pm
What is the deal with the Wizards? Haven’t they, and their idiotic fans, realized that you don’t rattle the cage of King James. What was the the crowd chanting “overrated” going to accomplish other than getting him to play at another level?
April 28, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Its one thing to think LeBron is in fact overrated, but its another thing to chant it during a game. No wonder the Wizards are getting killed this series, they want the opponents best shot, and will do anything to pry that out of them
April 28, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Overrated/ underrated are the two most weasely remarks in sports. “Yes, you may be good, but not as good as I’m imagining that some person may think you are.” I also don’t know why fans chant overrated when they’re beating a team. It’s strange that a victory is celebrated by announcing that the defeated opponent isn’t as good as people thought they were.
At any rate, Deshawn Stevenson and Gilbert Arenas vastly overrated their own ability to guard Lebron and to score points on his pathetic teammates.
April 28, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Yeah, I don’t blame them for wanting to finally beat Cleveland in the playoffs, but running your mouth, even when your getting your butt kicked, isn’t what I would call being smart. You’ve got to love Stevenson’s confidence, but he needs to do a better job backing up all that talk …
April 29, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Kobe had another “monster” game last night, and his team competed the sweep, so he has to be playing the best ball of any player right now, though I still believe LeBron is the best player in the league. CP3 needs to come up big in an elimination game against Dallas.
April 29, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I think one thing these playoffs have show is that the torch is being passed from Billups, Kidd, and Nash, to Parker, CP3, and D-Will, if it hadn’t already been done. The young guys are now the three best points in the league, and they show no signs of slowing down.
April 30, 2008 at 2:09 pm
We’ll see if CP3 can continue to play at a high level against Mr. Longoria and the Spurs defense. The odds say ‘no.’
May 1, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Nah, Parker is an absolute stud, but CP3 is the best point in the league, and will prove it against the Spurs stingy defense.