Moore: Dallas defense ruins Chris Paul's 37th birthday in Phoenix loss
DALLAS — Chris Paul didn’t get old overnight, but it sure looked like it on his 37th birthday.
Maybe he was thinking about going to a bakery after the game? How else could you explain seven first-half turnovers?
“It felt like all seven of them were back-to-back-to-back,” Paul said. “And throw a couple more back-to-backs in there, too.”
Paul finished with 12 points, four assists and seven turnovers in the Suns 103-94 loss to the Mavericks on Friday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Paul’s struggles came mostly from a scrappy Mavericks team playing in front of its home crowd, trying to stay in the series.
“If I don’t turn the ball over like that, I feel like it’s a different game,” Paul said. “Give them a lot of credit, I feel like they came out and did what they were supposed to do.”
With the win, Dallas has narrowed the series to a 2-1 Phoenix advantage.
It was a terrible night for Phoenix and Paul by just about any measure.
The Suns shot 45 percent from the floor, the first time in the series they’ve missed more than half of their shots.
Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne combined for three points.
Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee combined for zero blocks.
And Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges combined on 6-for-18 shooting, including 1 for 5 from 3-point range.
But perhaps worst was Paul’s painful first.
By halftime, Paul had as many turnovers (seven) as points (seven). He had more combined turnovers and fouls (10) than he did points and assists (nine).
For context, in the first two games of this series, Paul had just seven turnovers combined, and his career high in turnovers was eight, a dubious distinction demonstrated a decade ago in a Clippers loss to the Spurs in the 2012 playoffs.
As if all that weren’t frustrating enough, Paul was called for a technical foul early in the third quarter — for clapping.
That’s (clap!) not (clap!) worth (clap!) a (clap!) tech (clap!)
Friday’s futility was a gaudy contrast to Paul’s previous brilliance.
Paul finished Game 2 with 28 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. And he had 19 in Game 1, seven of which came in the fourth.
He’s been so effective as Close-Out Chris that not even the worst birthday game of his professional life could ruin his end-game intensity.
In the fourth, Paull had five points to go with two assists, a steal and no turnovers.
It wasn’t enough to turn back a spirited Mavericks squad that was intent on trying to ruin Paul’s party.
But in the end, Paul wasn’t too worried about it.
“We’ll be back on Sunday,” he said.
“We’ll be better on Sunday.”
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
There's plenty Moore where this came from. Subscribe for videos, columns, opinions and analysis from The Arizona Republic’s award-winning sports team.