For nearly 48 minutes, Game 2 between the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies was the most hotly contested game of the young 2013 postseason. The two tough teams traded blows, with the Memphis Grizzlies mounting a furious comeback from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game at 91-91 on a Marc Gasol dunk with 13 seconds remaining.
Games like this one can come down to slight edges in singular moments. On Monday night, the difference was that the Clippers have Chris Paul and the Grizzlies do not.
On the Clippers' final possession, Paul took Tony Allen — one of the two or three best perimeter defenders in the NBA to the rim and banked in an extremely tough runner over the outstretched arm of Darrell Arthur. With just 0.1 seconds on the clock, the Grizzlies were unable to take a shot on the game's last play, and the Clippers left with a huge 93-91 win.
The shot exemplified everything that makes Paul the best point guard in the league: the toughness, the will, the talent, the skill, the ability to render excellent defense irrelevant, and the flair for the dramatic. While the Clippers got several stellar performances on the night, CP3 is obviously the biggest reason they're heading to Memphis for Thursday's Game 3 with a 2-0 lead in the series.
(Video via Ben Golliver)
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