The ball was in the hands of the Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul with 35 seconds left in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday and his team needed a bucket to tie or take the lead.
The 11-time All-Star would not have wanted it any other way.
The point guard did one crossover dribble to shake the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jrue Holiday then immediately did another to try to lose Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Photo: AFP
What happened next was not what the Suns or Paul expected.
He fell down.
The ball bounced away and so did Phoenix’s chances of taking a commanding lead in the series.
Photo: AFP
Holiday scooped up the free possession and the Bucks converted a three-on-one when Khris Middleton scored a layup.
Just like that, Milwaukee had taken control of a come-from-behind 109-103 victory night that evened the series at 2-2.
“The turnovers just crushed us,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Game 5 is scheduled for tomorrow in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 36-year-old Paul — who has waited 16 seasons to play in the NBA Finals — did not shy away from taking the blame.
“It was me, I had five of them,” Paul said of the turnovers. “It was bad decisionmaking. At the time, we’re down two. I try to crossover right there, slip, turn it over.”
“There were some bad passes in the first half,” he said.
“They got a significant amount of more shots than us. So for me, I’ve got to take care of the ball,” he added.
He was not the only one who coughed up the basketball as the Suns finished with 17 turnovers, but there is little doubt that the point guard’s five turnovers, including one in the game’s most crucial moment, were some of the team’s most unexpected.
They were part of the reason that the Suns blew a seven-point, fourth-quarter lead and wasted an impressive performance by Devin Booker, who scored 42 points and shot 17 of 28 from the field.
Paul finished with a series-low 10 points on five-of-13 shooting and seven assists, but the real problem was the giveaways.
The miscues have been part of a troubling trend. Paul’s had 15 turnovers over his past three games, about twice as bad as his career rate of 2.4 turnovers per game.
Even so, his coach is not concerned and said there is nothing physically wrong with Paul.
“He’s fine,” Williams said. “Great players have games like that.”
Paul has given his coach plenty of reasons to believe in him, as he has overcome considerable adversity in these playoffs.
A shoulder injury limited Paul in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers. He missed the first two games of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Clippers because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol.
Each time, he came back to push the Suns forward. He was brilliant in a four-game sweep of the Denver Nuggets in the second round. He had 41 points against the Clippers in Game 6 to propel the Suns to their first NBA Finals since 1993.
Now he has got to bounce back against the Bucks.
“We know what we’ve got to do: Be better,” Paul said, seemingly talking about himself more than the rest of the Suns.
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