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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 17, 2013Chris PaulHOUSTON, TEXAS East All Stars- - 138 Q.  How does it feel to win an MVP? CHRIS PAUL: Pretty special. Pretty special. It's something I've never done. And it's something that I definitely coming into the game I wasn't trying to achieve or thinking that it might even be possible. I told KD early in the first quarter, I said, "man, if they score anything, you run. I'll get you the ball, you score, I want to be the one to give it to you." In games like this it's so up‑tempo and fast paced a guy like me that's a facilitator I enjoy. Q. Was there a point in the game where you thought this could happen? I don't know if you were aware of the statistics, but was there a point in the game that you thought this could happen? CHRIS PAUL: No, not really. I didn't really think about it. We just kept talking about how we wanted to win. At the end of the day we wanted to win and that's what we was talking about the third quarter, fourth quarter, we wanted to win the game. Q. What you did was sort of a very point guard type game, and old school style point guard and facilitating. How do you feel making a statement that that style still has a place in a game like this? CHRIS PAUL: Man, that's deep. I didn't think about it that much. I think for me in games like this, like I said, it's up tempo, it's fast paced. You just want to play fast. I like to throw the lob. I like to see guys hit threes, when we're out on the court with all that fire power, why wouldn't you want to make passes? You've got KD filling one of the lanes, you've got Blake, Kobe on the wing. There's nothing like it. Q. When you're playing for the Clippers, defenses quickly adjust to Blake's dunks. First two assists were from you. Do you feel like the East adjusted defensively to try to stop those highlight dunks? CHRIS PAUL: This game is slightly different than a regular season game. Just a little bit different. The weak side doesn't come over and tag as much. You have to pick your poison. You tag Blake at the rim for the dunk, you're leaving KD wide open for the three. One of them is going to go in, either the dunk is, and KD is not going to miss too often. Q. You mentioned how you kind of like the All‑Star Game, it let's you be your own self. Is this game more conducive to your type of player as opposed to other guys? CHRIS PAUL: What do you mean? Q. Does this All‑Star Game, the way it's played lend itself to your skill set? CHRIS PAUL:  I don't know. It's a team full of All‑Stars, you know what I mean? We're some of the best guys at our positions in what we do. For the most part we play up‑tempo style like that, with the Clippers. But like I go said, a regular season game you play a lot more defense. You usually don't have that much energy, because you're spending a lot of it on defense. Q. What did you think about Joakim Noah jumping out at you? Seemed like he was motivated to stop you. CHRIS PAUL: Yeah. I didn't know what I was going to do. Part of me wanted to try some moves and try and get by him. I love his defense, like his energy and stuff like that. And he's one of the best, if not the best, big man defenders, especially on the ball screens. He just backed up, so I figured I'd shoot it. Don't waste any time. Q. You kind of got some of your own offense going tonight in terms of shooting and scoring. I know that's typically not what you would probably try to do going into an All‑Star Game? CHRIS PAUL: Most of the time I was open. I was wide open for the first two threes that I hit. The and‑one I got on Kyrie, Brook Lopez, he kept backing up, so I couldn't throw a lob to Blake. The other ones the shot clock was running down. So I was almost forced to shoot a couple of times. Q. Not just today but the season in general, how do you feel in any particular areas that your game has really moved forward, that you've gotten better this season? CHRIS PAUL: Just awareness. I watch basketball all day, every day. My son, my wife, we sit there ‑‑ I'm on this thing called Synergy day in and day out watching basketball. I was talking to Pop, I could pretty much tell him the entire offense, because I watched so much basketball. I think as I get older, and I'm 27, as you get older you have to start playing with your mind more than all the athleticism. I'm far away from dunking on people. That's not my game. So I have to play with my mind. Q. That's not something you've done before, the breaking down analysis? CHRIS PAUL: Yeah, I've done it, but with anything, more time, you just understand it more and more. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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