Chris Paul was once the Point God. His days playing in New Orleans were mid-2000s basketball at its peak.
Now, the Houston Rockets guard is still a guaranteed Hall of Famer, but his antics have become a sore spot for many fans who don’t have a rooting interest in the games in which Paul plays. “Ticky tack” is the colloquial way to say it. “Cheap” is more direct. A lot of what Paul does, mostly to draw fouls, is gamesmanship. Combine that with his agitation of his opponents outside the norm, and CP3 has worn down a lot of viewers.
Perhaps one of the most emblematic instances of Paul’s try-hard method of manufacturing foul calls came with time winding down in the second quarter against the Utah Jazz on Sunday. Paul twice tried to get a foul called on Utah’s Joe Ingles.
Referee Ken Mauer didn’t fall for it, and Paul wound up throwing the ball out of bounds in one of the more bizarre plays you’ll see this postseason.
Via Twitter:
Chris Paul ends the first half of Game 4 in Chris Paul fashion. pic.twitter.com/n8vgzAjDeB
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 7, 2018
Just play basketball, man. Honestly. For an all-time great to do this stuff is unaesthetic basketball at its peak.
Nobody wants to watch this.