Watching helplessly from the Los Angeles Clippers’ bench in a perfectly tailored suit, Chris Paul seethed the last time his team visited EnergySolutions Arena.
A little over two weeks ago, the Utah Jazz ran their own dunkfest on Lob City, defeating the Clippers by 29 points, celebrating with each throwdown and sending their fans home in a frenzy.
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Paul, who was injured at the time, felt Utah ran up the score, as did many of his teammates. On Wednesday night, this was more than just a regular-season NBA affair.
"This one meant a little more," Paul said. "The last time we were here, they pretty much embarrassed us. We definitely remembered that and we definitely wanted to get this one."
In the Clippers’ 107-105 win over the Jazz, Paul did a little embarrassing of his own, destroying Devin Harris, Earl Watson and anyone Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin tried to put on him. His 34 points and 11 assists didn’t even tell the full story of his offensive mastery.
Paul almost single-handedly put Blake Griffin in position to score 31 points. He was unstoppable on the pick and roll. He made long-range 3-pointers. He pulled up in the middle.
And Paul did all that damage in just 35 minutes. In one fell swoop, he blatantly exposed Utah’s biggest weakness: The lack of a quality starting point guard.
"Our offense is night and day when Chris is playing," Griffin said. "He got us all going early with his passing. And then he knew when to take over the game. We didn’t have Mo Williams, either, the last game. Those two made a big difference tonight."
It’s hard to imagine that Chris Paul is still just 26 years old. He was so good against the Jazz that the Clippers really only needed to run the high pick-and-roll to get a good look at the basket. Whenever Paul wasn’t scoring, Griffin was usually diving to the rim for a lob, or for a pass that led to an easy shot.
If the middle was clogged, Williams or Chauncey Billups was there for an open jump shot. It wasn’t hard to see that the Jazz had a difficult time defensively on Wednesday night. But that’s what Paul, one of the very best point guards in the league, can do for you.
"He’s one of those guys that can make everybody on the floor better," Utah guard C.J. Miles said. "He gets the ball in his hands and then he makes the right decisions. When you’ve got a guy that can make the big shot or assist, it makes it tough on you defensively. Tonight, he showed why."
Twitter: @tonyaggieville
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