作者Loj ( Zoo Crew)
看板Pistons
標題[外電] Billups faces tall order in shadowing Chris Paul
時間Sun Mar 16 23:41:08 2008
Life hasn’t been easy for Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups
in the past week.
On Wednesday, he had to tangle with Philadelphia’s
Andre Miller,
one of the most underrated point guards in the NBA. Friday brought
speedster and reigning NBA Finals MVP
Tony Parker.
Today, two days before having to guard scoring stud
Allen Iverson,
he’ll try to slow New Orleans’
Chris Paul, who has a small pocket
of MVP support from those who somehow don’t believe in LeBron James,
Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett.
"It's not easy,” Billups said, “but I look at it the other way.
They’ve got tough nights, too.”
That’s true, and Paul didn’t have his way against Billups in the
first meeting against the Hornets. Paul shot 4-for-14 for 14 points
with seven assists.
But that was back in early December, and the Hornets have gained
confidence throughout this season as they’ve stuck to the top of
the Western Conference playoff picture despite the intense competition.
If the playoffs had started Saturday, the Hornets would have drawn a
third seed, but they were only half a game behind the top-seeded Lakers
and Houston.
Though the Hornets didn’t make the playoffs a year ago, Billups isn’t
surprised to see them up there hanging with the West’s big boys.
“They were in the hunt — really, in the hunt — last year and then
(Paul) went down and it was kind of wrapped for them,” Billups said.
“So I’m not surprised at all with how they started the season.
“When you’ve got a guard who’s as great and as good as he is, who can get
in the paint and dish and score as well, it’s a problem.”
Today, it’s primarily Billups’ problem, and considering how Paul is
playing lately, it’s a big one. The Hornets have won
five of six, and
Paul has averaged 27.5 points and 14.5 assists during that stretch.
“He’s playing at a whole different level,” coach Flip Saunders said.
“I think you’ve just got to change things up and give him different
looks. You can't let him totally into a comfort zone. But everyone's
tried everything with him right now.”
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