NBA Breakdown: 'King of Dimes'

After last year's playoffs nightmarish ending for the L.A. Clippers and Chris Paul

Paul is a lockdown man-to-man defender.

 you knew he would come back with a vengeance to start this season.  Paul pushed the limits of point guard efficiency in the first 20 games of the season, dishing out 187 assists with only 29 turnovers.  And in the past month, without Blake Griffin (elbow) in the lineup, Paul has put up several MVP-like performances while going up against some of the top point guards in the Western Conference.

Points (3pm)(fga-fgm)(fta-ftm), rebs, ast, stls, tov

vs. HOU, Patrick Beverly (Mar. 15)
CP3: 23(¹)(7-21)(8-8), 3, 5, 2, 3
PB: 11(¹)(3-7)(4-4), 2, 3, 1, 2

vs. OKC, Russell Westbrook (Mar. 12)
CP3: 33(5)(11-19)(6-7), 4, 9, 2, 5
RWB: 24(³)(5-14)(11-13), 9, 7, 2, 5

vs. GSW, Steph Curry (Mar. 8)
CP3: 14(7-17), 5, 11, 2, 5
SC: 12(²)(3-9)(4-4), 1, 4, 3, 4

Paul is averaging 10.0 APG vs. 2.4 

vs. POR, Dame Lillard (Mar. 5)
CP3: 36(²)(14-29)(6-6), 6, 12, 2, 5
DL: 5(1-13)(3-4), 18, 4, 0, 5

vs. MPHS, Mike Conley (Feb. 27)
CP3: 19(¹)(7-14)(4-4), 4, 13, 2, 1
MC: 4(2-11), 3, 2, 0, 2

vs. SAS, Tony Parker (Feb. 19)
CP3: 22(²)(9-16)(2-3), 5, 16, 1, 4
TP: 21(¹)(8-17)(4-4), 3, 13, 2, 0

ADEDS All-Stars: 'OG Russell Westbrook'

Steve Francis was ahead of his time in this

Francis had all the tools of today's top PGs.

'attack mode' PG era. The former Maryland Terrapins guard was not highly recruited and played at two junior colleges before exploding onto the scene in College Park, MD in 1998. Francis was selected No. 2 overall in that draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies and traded to Houston, where he would spend his first five seasons. He turned the ball over way too much, and perhaps the physical nature of his style of play didn't allow him to have longterm NBA success, but was a prolific scoring guard nonetheless.  Francis, the 2000 NBA Rookie of the Year, made the Western Conference All-Star team three times (2002-2004) in his career and, in comparison, his numbers for first five years for the Rockets are right there with current beast-mold guards Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook.

FIRST FIVE SEASONS:

Derrick Rose, CHI 08-14: 20.8ppg, 3.8rpg, 6.8apg, 0.9stls, 2.9tov

Russell Westbrook, OKC 08-13: 19.9ppg, 4.8rpg, 6.9apg, 1.6stls, 3.5tov

Steve Francis, HOU 99-04: 19.3ppg, 6.1rpg, 6.4apg, 1.6stls, 3.7tov