Chauncey Billups Still Gets No Love

Dusty on 04 21, 2009

While I was watching Game 1 of the Nuggets/Hornets series I was not shocked one bit by Chauncey Billups’ performance. Was it impressive the way he continually drained three after three? Of course it was, but what impressed me the most was the swagger that he plays with and how his teammates feed off of it. This is the biggest difference between the Carmelo Anthony led team of the past and the current Nuggets team. Throughout his career Billups’ has been underrated, and although he’s a soft spoken person, this has to be what fuels his passion. Coming into this series the talk has always been about Chris Paul and his unbelievable abilities. Yet, once again, Billups’ went under the radar and showed off his unique skill set.

I’ve often heard that Billups’ is not a very skilled player, but he’s just a winner. This has some truth to it, but with his size and strength, Chauncey can take smaller players in the post and can go around bigger players on the perimeter. This is exactly what he did the other night, whether it was giving Rasual Butler the blow by or sticking jumper after jumper in transition.

Depending upon which media outlet you read, the cliché sports line of “It was just one of those nights” has already been exhausted. Granted the odds of him going 8 for 9 on threes again is slim, but why not give credit where credit is due? Regardless of what happens with the rest of this series, it’s about time we start including Billups’ name with Chris Paul, Tony Parker, and Jason Kidd as one of the best PG’s in the league.

- On a side note I understand that it’s the playoffs and everyone including the last guy on the bench is hyped, but is it necessary for everyone in the NBA to now do the “I can’t feel my face” hand motion. It really cracks me up that it’s usually the last guy on the bench who wont see any tick that night doing it the most.