There are certain players in the NBA who have the ability to completely take over a game whenever the mood strikes. Here's a note to all the opposing fans sitting within ear shot of the court: Chris Paul is one of those players. Fans at Conseco Fieldhouse learned that lesson last night as Paul went off in the final minutes, apparently after hearing a fan make a PG-13 disparaging remark about him as he was checking back into the game. The fan in question, who goes by the name "Quinnthology," described the events in an email to The Basketball Jones:
He quickly turned around and said, "What?" High off the fact that he even acknowledged me, I said, "Yeah, you're lucky T.J.'s (Ford) not playing." He replied, "Yeah, I prayed for that last night," and rolled his eyes and laughed. I was in complete disarray, and said to the man that I had so passionately spoken in MVP support for last year: "You shouldn't have been mentioned for MVP last year, Kobe is way better than you." He laughed and walked off. My friend gave me the "what have you done" look.The look was well-deserved: Paul proceeded to undress the Pacers, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the final three and a half minutes while leading the Hornets to a two-point victory. Was it a coincidence? Not exactly. After the game, Paul made it clear what inspired him.
CP went over, took a photo with someone, then walked in my direction. I stood up. He stopped directly in front of the scorers table and, pointing a solid finger, and said in LeBron fashion, "It's your fault. It's your fault."Lest you think this is just some fan exaggerating for the sake of a good story, Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star saw the whole thing go down and wrote about it in his blog, including Paul's post-game message.
Consider it a lesson, folks: heckling rival players may be hazardous to the home team's health. Quinnthology and Chris Bosh's girlfriend should form a support group.
