Sitting in the visiting locker room Monday night at American Airlines Center, Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul described each of his season-high five turnovers.
Paul remembered them as if they all happened five minutes before media members began interviewing him.
"When you got 21 turnovers you don't give yourself an opportunity to win," Paul said after a 96-92 Mavericks victory, "especially someone like me that's a point guard."
Finishing with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, the veteran guard was hounded most of the night by Mavericks small forward Shawn Marion, who is seven inches taller and 53 pounds heavier. But Paul didn't credit Marion for doing anything special. Instead, he pointed to only playing 32 minutes, about four less than his average.
"I didn't even notice a difference," Paul said of Marion's defense. "I knew that he was on me but it wasn't nothing I haven't seen before."
According to Paul, Marion has guarded him in the past when the 33-year-old forward was playing in Phoenix.
Even if Paul didn't recognize anything outstanding from Marion, who finished with two steals, Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban did, tweeting after the game: "Great job @matrix31 guarding CP3 and 2 other positions all night. #AllNBADEFENSE"
Slumped in his locker room chair, Paul wasn't in much of a mood to hand out too much praise for his opponent. When it came to talking about Dirk Nowitzki's team-high 22 points, Paul said the 7-foot German was "flailing and all that different type of stuff."
However, he quickly added that Nowitzki was a "great" free throw shooter and that when it was time to make big plays, the Mavericks made them.
"So the credit goes to them," he added.
The last time Paul had five turnovers was his final game with the New Orleans Hornets, a series-ending loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last April.
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Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
