Look. I'm a Spurs fan; not an NBA fan. A Spurs fan. So I hope you can understand if I don't jump aboard the CP3 love train. He's a tremendous talent, no doubt. That upfake he administered on Duncan almost made me giggle. And his eyes... yes, they make me moist, ok? Happy? But this is a Spurs blog. If you're looking for more Paul praise go to a Hornets blog ESPN.com any other basketball-related website.
BUTOHMYFREAKINGGODWHENDIDHESTARTFLOPPINGSODAMNEDMUCH???? Yes, the Spurs are the rulers of Flopdom. I therefore cannot begrudge him his grandiose attempts at coaxing a foul call from the refs. But I do begrudge him the title of The Righter of All Spur's Wrongs and Saviour of the NBA. If flopping is a scourge then Paul is one of the infectious agents. At one point, after getting a nothing of an elbow from Oberto, he proceeded to attempt a triple sow chow down the lane. It was shocking, appalling and it almost made me throw my flip-flop at my plasma t.v. That's not cool.
And he carries the ball a lot. And he's a kerfuffle-toucher.
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Pop made the obvious move and played Bowen on Peja, and, as expected, Bruce took Peja right out of the game. 8 points on 9 possessions is poor. Paul's accomplishments were impossible to miss, but I contend that, all in all, we didn't do much worse on him than in the first two games.
Game 1 -- Accounted for 43 points on 33 possessions
Game 2 -- Accounted for 54 points on 37 possessions
Game 3 -- Accounted for 53 points on 37 possessions
(Accounted points = PTS + AST*2)
(Possessions = FGA + .44*FTA + TO + AST)
I'm not crazy; I don't think the Spurs can win the series with him playing like he's played the last two games. But the man is human. In games 3 and 4 against Dallas he put up a combined 32 points on 32 FGA and 12 FTA and "only" 18 assists. A couple games like that and the Spurs can be up 3-2.
Alright. I don't have enough energy to wax poetic about the performances of Manu and Tony. They had to be awesome and they were. May the FSM continue to touch them with his noodley appendage.