After a successful match once morest the Pelicans on Friday night, Chris Paul fell back into his ways this Sunday. A timid performance which does not have enough to raise the alarm but still pushes us to ask a question: will CP3’s average start to the season be rectified in the weeks to come?
We have known better context to talk regarding Chris Paul.
Only 13 games played out of a possible 27, a return last week following 14 games away due to a heel injury, let’s say we would like a slightly thicker sample to really look at the Suns point guard. However, and this is the whole game around Chris, the level of excellence has been such throughout his career that we are inevitably surprised when we see him struggling. The 37-year-old Devin Booker’s right-hand man isn’t off to a great start, and the numbers are – for starters – pretty clear.
- 38.5% shooting (career worst percentage)
- 34.1% from three points (Top 4 worst career percentage)
- 46,4% d’effective field goal percentage (Top 2 worst career percentage)
- 6 losses in 13 games played
On the basis of shooting alone, therefore of this register where CP3 has been more than serious since its arrival in the NBA in 2005, we are off to a bad start to the season without beating around the bush.
The usual mid-distance shots, which allowed him to martyr any type of defender, are less rhythmic, less taken with ease, simply less inside.
And this is perhaps one of the points that is most to watch, over the coming weeks on the side of Phoenix. The shots don’t fit and sometimes it starts to come back. But the physical condition, so the ability to create your space and punish your defenders, when it’s not there… it’s not there. Thanks to excellent footwork and good elevation on his shots, Chris Paul was always able to find the fault. His small size (1m83), he had been able to put it in the background by becoming in particular the undisputed master of shooting at mid-distance, even if it means shooting even more behind his head so that the counter is avoided and the leather caresses the nets .
For the moment, therefore on a weak sample but to be monitored, this elevation and this capacity to create its space are not present.
And that can be the start of a nasty downfall, for a player who has to rely on those advantages to survive scoring. CP3 does not venture into snowshoeing as before, logically since he has a body to preserve. But we have to find this pep and this tonicity in the legs so that these shots at 4-5 meters go in once more.
The example of this Sunday once morest New Orleans was obvious. You will tell me, he put 24 points in the previous game so it should be fine, right? Yes, but that doesn’t prevent you from being intrigued when you see that a strong pressure on the point guard pushes him to get rid of the ball, or that he does not draw his rainbow shot as he would usually.
For the moment, therefore without conclusion but with a prescription from the doctor, we will put it on the rhythm. Lack of rhythm, barely back from injury, let’s leave CP3 the few games necessary to recover their health and everything will be fine. On the other hand, it will be necessary to record this return to normal at some point. Because if the Suns need anything, it’s not a Devin Booker revival. It’s the return of CP3, the one who tormented the competition a very short time ago. And at 37, of course, we are entitled to ask ourselves more questions.
Never underestimate a veteran, especially as smart as Chris Paul. If here we do not doubt its ability to regain its top level, the start of the CP3 season leaves us faced with a question: simple start-up hassle, or the start of a trend that will not smell good? Case to follow.
