Patrick Mills vs. Chris Paul
August 21st 2008 11:56
If anyone has been watching the Olympic Men's basketball they will have noticed a strange irony. Two teams played last night in the Quarter Finals, Australia and Team USA. Australia's highest point scorer and arguably their biggest influence, Patrick Mills is a 20 year-old player from Canberra, Australia who earns no money at all playing for St. Mary's college in the US. He has talked of how he has modelled his game on that of Chris Paul, the runner-up MVP in the NBA's most recent season, watching game tape after game tape.
They are the same height and it would appear Mills has honed his body to the exact same weight as Paul's unless that it is, it is coincidence they share the same weight of 79 kg or in Imperial, 175 pounds.
Last night it seemed the irony of their situations was displayed in its most glaring light.
Patrick Mills scored 20 points, with 2 assists and 3 steals at just under 50% shooting while Chris Paul scored only 2 free throws missing all three of his shots along with 3 assists in 19 minutes, ten less than Mills.
Now this one performance by no means can sum up the worth of these two players. Everyone can have a bad night. Paul has been amazingly consistent over his career in the NBA and is known for being ultra-reliable in the clutch and in making the most out of his team. Perhaps Paul's failure to make such an impact playing with Team USA is due to the fact he isn't the go-to-guy, a situation he has been enjoying at New Orleans since his rookie year. Another reason why he looked so much less spectacular than his opposing point guard, Mills, could be due to the fact he doesn't know the US team like he knows his New Orleans teammates. However, Mills is in a similar boat.
While the speedy Australian has much less experience and no doubt consistency than Paul, on the international stage against an incredible team, the USA, that Paul will never have to compete against, Mills has proven very consistent. He is averaging 21 points a game against the Americans in 2 encounters in the last few weeks, the earlier match in a Shanghai warm up tournament.
While Paul looked lost and almost afraid to make a fool of himself, Mills dove at everything, stole dramatically setting up his own coast-to-coast fast break and basically sparked the Australian's to an 85 point performance, admirable due to the fact Andrew Bogut, Australia's only NBA player played only 11 minutes before retiring to the bench in the second half with an ankle complaint.
Mills is a world-class talent and the Americans know it. After surprising them in Shanghai with 22 points, most observers expected Mills to be a marked man in this contest. He was, but it didn't seem to matter - he had NBA level fitness, athleticism and poise on the big stage, hitting the second highest point total of the game, second only to the best player in the world Kobe Bryant with 3 more, 25, against arguably the best basketball team ever assembled.
They are the same height and it would appear Mills has honed his body to the exact same weight as Paul's unless that it is, it is coincidence they share the same weight of 79 kg or in Imperial, 175 pounds.
Last night it seemed the irony of their situations was displayed in its most glaring light.
Patrick Mills scored 20 points, with 2 assists and 3 steals at just under 50% shooting while Chris Paul scored only 2 free throws missing all three of his shots along with 3 assists in 19 minutes, ten less than Mills.
Now this one performance by no means can sum up the worth of these two players. Everyone can have a bad night. Paul has been amazingly consistent over his career in the NBA and is known for being ultra-reliable in the clutch and in making the most out of his team. Perhaps Paul's failure to make such an impact playing with Team USA is due to the fact he isn't the go-to-guy, a situation he has been enjoying at New Orleans since his rookie year. Another reason why he looked so much less spectacular than his opposing point guard, Mills, could be due to the fact he doesn't know the US team like he knows his New Orleans teammates. However, Mills is in a similar boat.
While the speedy Australian has much less experience and no doubt consistency than Paul, on the international stage against an incredible team, the USA, that Paul will never have to compete against, Mills has proven very consistent. He is averaging 21 points a game against the Americans in 2 encounters in the last few weeks, the earlier match in a Shanghai warm up tournament.
While Paul looked lost and almost afraid to make a fool of himself, Mills dove at everything, stole dramatically setting up his own coast-to-coast fast break and basically sparked the Australian's to an 85 point performance, admirable due to the fact Andrew Bogut, Australia's only NBA player played only 11 minutes before retiring to the bench in the second half with an ankle complaint.
Mills is a world-class talent and the Americans know it. After surprising them in Shanghai with 22 points, most observers expected Mills to be a marked man in this contest. He was, but it didn't seem to matter - he had NBA level fitness, athleticism and poise on the big stage, hitting the second highest point total of the game, second only to the best player in the world Kobe Bryant with 3 more, 25, against arguably the best basketball team ever assembled.
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