duncan228
05-01-2008, 01:32 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA.050108.BKNSpursCharticle.EN.3c40a2a.html
Pro basketball: Two at the top
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
For most of the past decade you could start an argument among knowledgeable NBA fans by asking this question: Is Jason Kidd or Steve Nash the NBA's best point guard?
Now, Kidd and Nash represent the vanquished old guard among the league's top point guards. The new guard is represented best by the Spurs' Tony Parker and the Hornets' Chris Paul, who sent Nash and Kidd to early vacations.
Parker and Paul will go head-to-head in a Western Conference semifinals series that begins Saturday. Express-News NBA writer Mike Monroe breaks down how these two have risen to the top of the league's point-guard pyramid.
Leadership
Paul, in just his third season, has become the Hornets’ unquestioned leader, an extension on the court of coach Byron Scott, who trusts him implicitly to run the team’s offense smoothly. Most of the time, Scott is little more than an interested observer when Paul executes the game plans he designs.
Parker’s assumption of leadership of the Spurs’ offense has been more difficult to establish. That is because he shares its focus with two-time MVP Tim Duncan and sixth-man extraordinaire Manu Ginobili. Plus, coach Gregg Popovich never relinquishes more than partial control of any aspect of his team’s play.
Symbiosis
Both point guards have a big man whose offensive skills are a perfect complement to their own strengths.
Parker has Duncan, who sets rock-solid screens and is so adept at both the pick-and-roll and the pick-and-pop that defenders fear “blitzing” Parker when he drives off screens.
Paul has David West, whose dead-eye perimeter shooting forces opposing big men to leave the lane open for Paul’s forays to the basket.
Picking their shots
Both Parker and Paul are slashers, great at getting to the basket, but neither are pure jump shooters. Parker elevated his game to All-Star level only after spending hour upon hour in the gym with shot doctor Chip Engelland, who reworked his shooting stroke. Both players, though, have proven capable of making clutch shots from the perimeter. Parker hit two midrange jumpers in the final 2:14 of Tuesday’s clincher against the Suns. Paul has better range — he made 92 3-pointers in the regular season — and is most dangerous in crunch time.
Proving points
Both players have been motivated by being snubbed in their respective drafts. In Parker’s case, 27 players were chosen before the Spurs drafted him late in the first round in 2001.
True, Paul was the fourth pick in the 2005 draft, but he was not even the first point guard chosen. When the Jazz made the third pick of that draft they opted for Illinois’ Deron Williams, letting Paul slide to the Hornets. Now Paul is an MVP candidate and Williams awaits his first All-Star selection.
Foul magnets
Because both point guards predicate their games on their ability to get into the paint, among the giants, they draw fouls aplenty. Parker went to the foul line 16 times in Tuesday’s Game 5 victory. Paul shot 14 free throws in the Hornets’ Game 2 victory over the Mavericks. Paul is a better free-throw shooter, 85 percent to 71 percent for Parker.
Pro basketball: Two at the top
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
For most of the past decade you could start an argument among knowledgeable NBA fans by asking this question: Is Jason Kidd or Steve Nash the NBA's best point guard?
Now, Kidd and Nash represent the vanquished old guard among the league's top point guards. The new guard is represented best by the Spurs' Tony Parker and the Hornets' Chris Paul, who sent Nash and Kidd to early vacations.
Parker and Paul will go head-to-head in a Western Conference semifinals series that begins Saturday. Express-News NBA writer Mike Monroe breaks down how these two have risen to the top of the league's point-guard pyramid.
Leadership
Paul, in just his third season, has become the Hornets’ unquestioned leader, an extension on the court of coach Byron Scott, who trusts him implicitly to run the team’s offense smoothly. Most of the time, Scott is little more than an interested observer when Paul executes the game plans he designs.
Parker’s assumption of leadership of the Spurs’ offense has been more difficult to establish. That is because he shares its focus with two-time MVP Tim Duncan and sixth-man extraordinaire Manu Ginobili. Plus, coach Gregg Popovich never relinquishes more than partial control of any aspect of his team’s play.
Symbiosis
Both point guards have a big man whose offensive skills are a perfect complement to their own strengths.
Parker has Duncan, who sets rock-solid screens and is so adept at both the pick-and-roll and the pick-and-pop that defenders fear “blitzing” Parker when he drives off screens.
Paul has David West, whose dead-eye perimeter shooting forces opposing big men to leave the lane open for Paul’s forays to the basket.
Picking their shots
Both Parker and Paul are slashers, great at getting to the basket, but neither are pure jump shooters. Parker elevated his game to All-Star level only after spending hour upon hour in the gym with shot doctor Chip Engelland, who reworked his shooting stroke. Both players, though, have proven capable of making clutch shots from the perimeter. Parker hit two midrange jumpers in the final 2:14 of Tuesday’s clincher against the Suns. Paul has better range — he made 92 3-pointers in the regular season — and is most dangerous in crunch time.
Proving points
Both players have been motivated by being snubbed in their respective drafts. In Parker’s case, 27 players were chosen before the Spurs drafted him late in the first round in 2001.
True, Paul was the fourth pick in the 2005 draft, but he was not even the first point guard chosen. When the Jazz made the third pick of that draft they opted for Illinois’ Deron Williams, letting Paul slide to the Hornets. Now Paul is an MVP candidate and Williams awaits his first All-Star selection.
Foul magnets
Because both point guards predicate their games on their ability to get into the paint, among the giants, they draw fouls aplenty. Parker went to the foul line 16 times in Tuesday’s Game 5 victory. Paul shot 14 free throws in the Hornets’ Game 2 victory over the Mavericks. Paul is a better free-throw shooter, 85 percent to 71 percent for Parker.