Chris Paul has several qualities in him as an NBA athlete that make him one of the best players ever. One of those qualities is to control the pace of the game. CP3 can not only control his own game but can also force the opposition to do the same. During his appearance on the Run Your Race, Jamal Crawford applauded CP3 for possessing this quality and added Luka Doncic’s name next to his.
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Crawford believes that the two players are very similar in that aspect of the game, which makes both of them a dominating force on the floor. The conversation started with Theo Pinson stating that Paul is such an elite player that, while he’s in the middle of a play; he thinks about what he will do on the next run down the court.
Pinson said that it might not seem like the most important thing to do from the outside, but having such control over the game gives the player an edge. Crawford agreed with his take and added his points. He said,
“I speak of Luka like this, Chris is the same way… I’m thinking from the guards, those two jump out at me. I’m sure I’m missing some, but they can not only slow their game down, they can slow your game down when you’re in the game with them. So, they can slow the whole game down. They’re having so much fun in their head, it’s like, ‘I can do anything out here, you guys have no idea.'”
Crawford added Jason Kidd and LeBron James’ names to complete his Mt. Rushmore. Pinson and Crawford heaped some more praise on the Slovenian with the former saying that Doncic is the closest thing to LeBron that we’ve seen. Crawford added that since Doncic’s game isn’t built on athleticism and still he made his way to the NBA Finals, he can continue to do this for the next 15 years if he wants.
Luka talked about guarding CP3
Since Doncic and CP3 are hailed among the best players in the league, their matchups create some incredible moments that have been cherished by fans for years. Two years ago, when the two played against one another in the playoffs, Doncic had a great time guarding him and was very successful in doing so. While talking to the reporters during the post-game presser, he said,
“I think we did a great job, you know. Reggie and those guys are incredible all year on the defensive end. They showed today once again, they’re doing an amazing job and they are our leaders on defense.”
Although Luka didn’t take any credit for it, the Mavs forced seven turnovers against CP3 during Game 3 and Luka was the one who guarded him.
