falcolombardi wrote:A major question going forward is how much the Suns can expect Paul to sustain his 25 PPG on 74% TS against a backcourt opposition that isn't Monte Morris, Facundo Compazzo & Austin Rivers. If he can keep up something like this - which is really unprecedented in Paul's career - then this is about Paul with Booker & the Suns in the context of modern officiating (sigh). If he can't, then it's about a woefully inadequate (and injury-hampered) Nuggets backcourt.
officiating or spacing? i mean, the 2010's didnt even have better offensive ratings that the 3 point less 80's until 2020, 1991 for example had a much higher offensive rating that 2016 despite no 3 point spacing. and that era was supposed to have tougher reffing
i find it hard to believe refs suddenly changed the way they officiate so much to explain a near 2 point jump then got even "softer" in 2021 to explain another
Hmm, so I want to be clear here:
Pace & space is the reason why offenses are going nuts in general, but you saw what Paul was doing to get those fouls against the Nuggets right? If you had the volume on and listened to the commentators (which frankly I understand if you didn't), they just kept saying it over again:
"This is what Paul is great at, drawing fouls when the opponent is in the penalty."
Consider this. When we typically think about free throws, we think about someone shooting the ball right?
In the playoffs so far for Paul:
Shooting fouls drawn: 6 (6th on the Suns)
Free throws taken: 34 (2nd on the Suns, and as you know, this is mostly the Nuggets series as he was hurting before)
This is just crazy don't you think?
For comparison, here's what Paul's numbers in these stats looked like when he was in the playoffs of his near-MVP year:
Shooting fouls drawn: 31 (1st on NO)
Free throws taken: 79 (1st on NO)
Very impressive, but a much more reasonable ratio.
What Paul's done is master the ability to get on the free throw line by diving in non-shooting situations, and that's the thing that's really changed about how refs are calling things.
I don't blame Paul for doing this, and he's not the only one doing this, but my goodness is it out of control right now, and this is why I've been saying with growing alarm over the years that the officiating is getting more and more problematic and desperately needs a philosophical reset.