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It’s ridiculous to think that the award for the league’s most valuable player during an 82 game season can actually come down to one single game. Yet that was the case on Friday night, as Chris Paul’s Hornets took on Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in what everyone believe to be the game that would decide the winner of this years most valuable player. Sitting at home watching,  I was indeed engulfed in the hype that had so succesfully billed this game as the most important game of the season. Truth be told, before I started watching I really wasn’t convinced that one single game should or could determine anything, let alone the most coveted individual prize in all of basketball…But as the minutes passed and both players displayed exactly what they had to offer on the grandstage - it was then that it became clear that this game would indeed seperate the two, but not exactly in the way everyone had envisioned.

Most people that watched the game will have taken the 15 points 17assists 6 rebounds by Paul, and the 29points 10assists 8rebounds and the W for Kobe and given the slight edge to Kobe Bryant on the track towards the MVP award. Yet, if anyone watched closely enough, it should have been really easy to see that these two players that everyone has placed in a deadlock in terms of value…are in fact not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath.

The New Orleans Hornets this year, just like the Phoenix Suns of years past, are a team built around the point guard position. Stojakovic and Peterson are two of the deadliest shooters of our generation. Tyson Chandler is a player that can’t create anything for himself and will only score if a player creates a dunk opportunity for him. So when 3 out of 5 of your starters absolutely need the point guard to create something for them to be succesful - you can see why Paul has so many assists and has established himself as one of the frontrunners for this years MVP. However, this is also exactly the reason why he is totally out of his league when being compared to a player like Kobe or LeBron. Chris Paul has been handed over the ideal team for his skillset. He controls the ball 90% of the possesion and everything goes through him. So while Paul has done a tremendous job with this huge responsibility, he hasn’t exactly proved on a consistent basis that he can take over a game like Kobe, or make defenders look overmatched like LeBron, or control the defensive end of the floor like Kevin Garnett. Paul, if you will, is a one trick pony. He goes around screens, penetrates, and creates havoc around the paint area and as a result of the gifted shooters around him, the pogo stick known as Tyson Chandler, or the scoring machine David West - collects dimes faster than your local arcade. If the MVP award was solely based how much importance you have to your own team, then Paul would probably be have to be given the award…despite his replacement Pargo being more than capable of running the offense and even being more dangerous than Paul on some occasions.

However, the award is the league’s most valuable player, not a team’s. If you dont understand the logic, imagine a team with all guards and players under 6 foot 3. Except there is one center, and you can imagine that under these conditions this player will collect 15+rebounds, and be by far the most important player on the team and more valuable to his team than any other player is to his own team. Should this player get the MVP? No, I certainly hope not.

 Let’s take a look at Kobe for a second. He is able to draw double teams on a consistent basis and ends up creating the space and time for his teammates much like Chris Paul..without even having to move a single step. The defense is always playing catchup when 3 players have to guard 4, and this is an advantage that won’t show up on the stats sheets, but it is far more valuable than any statistic could suggest. So Kobe is easily able to play the facilitator role that Paul is admired for, and if he was to have the ball in his hands the whole time like Paul, you can be sure he would be averaging 10+assists. Yet, this aspect of Kobe’s game is only a fraction of what he is about. His ability to score at will, his defensive presence, his post up game, his 3 point game, his morale breaking plays and demeanor, his clutch ability…all of this is impressive, and the fact that he can do any one at anytime depending on his team, the score, the situation, the matchups…is what ultimately elevates him to a level that Paul will persevere to match throughout his career.

 Kobe has played alongside a dominant big men, and shaped his game accordingly and won three championships. He has played alongside one of the worst teams imaginable (Smush Parker, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown), and carried them on his shoulders to the playoffs and near playoff upsets. He has now adjusted his game to first turn Brynum from laughing stock to a legit All-Star, and now Gasol from forgotten cavemen to superstar playboy. He has never had the perfect team built for him like Paul has had, and yet…anyway you look at it he has been able to thrive and retain the tag as the world best player for the past half dozen years. You might be thinking to yourself now that past seasons shouldn’t be taken into consideration when deciding this year’s award - but we do it all the time (teams’ strengths, players’ abilities, expectations of them…they are all based on past seasons).

If you really watched the game closely on Friday night, and ignored what the commentators were saying, and what the stats said…you would have seen everything that I mentioned in the above paragraphs. The 17 assists by Paul were by no means all spectacular, he was not a factor on defense, his team didn’t suffer with him out, he didn’t have the ability to take over the game by himself down the stretch, and he really wasn’t feared as much as some of his teammates were. And yet, as everyone acknowledges, that was a typical CP3 game and he wasn’t far off his 100% self.

If you had put Paul on that team with Kwame, Parker, Walton, Odom….would he really be as good? Does Paul really have that amazing ability to put his stamp on the game no matter the circumstance? I’m not so convinced. As I watched Chris Paul on Friday night, and the near dozen times I have seen him before this season, I didn’t get that feeling that he was the best or most valuable player in basketball. Apart from several lightning quick coast to coast drives, and several neat passes, I couldn’t make out why this player was being billed as highly as he has been recently. Sure the stats dont lie, but do they tell the whole story? Does Stojakovic make those incredible three pointers in people’s faces just because the pass came from Paul? I just can’t see such a big gap of Paul compared to the average starting point guard (Rafer Alston) , than I see when I compare Kobe to the average starting shooting guard (Jamal Crawford).

You can say what you want but at the end of the day, Kobe is a better player than Paul and more deserving of the MVP award. We saw it on Friday, we saw it the 78 games before, and we saw it the past 3 seasons. Give the award to Paul if you wish, but come June…you will be thinking hard and long about what was so damn special about anyone not named Kobe Bryant.  

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