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Chris Paul shouldered the blame for the Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the 2021 NBA Finals. And why shouldn’t he?
After all, it was Paul’s miscues and overall poor play that were among the biggest factors that led to the predicament the Phoenix Suns are in right now. They weren’t supposed to be tied 2-2 in the NBA Finals heading home for Game 5, not after how Devin Booker bounced back from a similarly horrific performance in Game 3.
But here they are and Chris Paul made sure not to make excuses for his performance on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old played 37 minutes and had 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field, 0-of-2 from the arc and turned the ball over five times in Game 4. On any other night, the Phoenix Suns would have pulled off a victory the way Booker was shooting the ball (he had 42 points). But this is the Finals where every mistake is magnified, especially in the face of incredible defensive pressure from the Bucks’ Jrue Holiday.
How bad was Chris Paul’s game really? Let’s look at the numbers and how the Phoenix Suns can move on and look ahead to Game 5.
The turnovers story
Chris Paul had five turnovers in Game 4 but he had a worse turnover rate (6) in Game 2 which they won. The problem wasn’t about how many he committed, but when they happened. Turnovers, when they occur in the first or second quarters, are still forgivable.
But when they happen with your team holding on to a precarious three-point lead in crunch time, that’s a big deal. With 3:47 left in the game, Chris Paul passed to a cutting Deandre Ayton for a wide-open dunk. But the pass was off and it led to a fastbreak layup by the Bucks.
The second fourth-quarter turnover came with about 34 seconds to go. He did a crossover on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Paul lost the ball on his own accord and that, too, led to a layup at the other end to give their opponent a four-point lead.
Paul is one of the most sure-handed ball handlers in the game and rarely commits turnovers. During the regular season, he committed five or more just five times. In the Finals, he’s already got two games with at least five.
Chris Paul’s Plus/Minus for Game 4
By simple definition, plus/minus is an indication of how well or how bad a player’s team performs while he is on the court. Interestingly, Chris Paul had a worse plus/minus (-13) in Game 3 than in Game 4 (-10) but we don’t talk about his issues in the previous game because Devin Booker played worse.
Additionally, Game 3 isn’t as crucial as Game 4 was. Wednesday’s match was the Phoenix Suns’ chance to put a stranglehold on the Finals but they couldn’t do that with CP3 playing the way he did.
We talked about his fourth quarter turnover woes and that contributed to a worse plus/minus for Paul (-12) than his overall numbers. He shot 2-of-5 from the field and 0-of-1 from three, with no free throws and only two assists aside from giving up the ball twice.
The fact that he wasn’t able to draw a foul that would send him to the line boggles the mind. During a close contest, Paul normally goes to the free-throw line to give his team an advantage.
The shooting and the percentage
Chris Paul made just 5-of-13 shots from the field for 38.5 percent shooting. We see this in the box score but it doesn’t tell the whole story. What the stats don’t show is how badly he was missing from mid-range, his signature shot.
The follow-through wasn’t clean and you could almost sense a tentativeness from him whenever he took a jumper.
Chris Paul had a push shot in the lane early in the third quarter that was way short even though no Bucks player bothered him. There were wide-open jumpers from the wings that he left short, while some attempts were just too strong. It was almost like a relief when the ball went through the hoop the way he was shooting it.
Looking ahead to Game 5
As Devin Booker showed in Game 4, Chris Paul can bounce back from his worst playoff game and have one of his best performances of the postseason. The future Hall of Famer is too good for us to expect anything less than a strong outing for Game 5.
But the Phoenix Suns have to lighten Paul’s load if they want him to lead them to a win. Whether he’s exhausted from Holiday’s defense, he’s nursing an injury or he’s dealing with something else, coach Monty Williams has to look at distributing the duties to his other players and streamlining Paul’s own responsibilities to the most important ones.
Chris Paul is so close to winning his first NBA title, which will also be the franchise’s first. For Game 5 to have a different result from Game 4, he may have to take on a different role than usual. Paul has saved his Phoenix Suns teammates countless times this postseason. It’s time for them to do the same for him.
Guess the Lakers players!
