Lance Stephenson vs Chris Paul: Who Had The Better Move?

Alright we had a couple of pretty nasty basketball murders last night, one coming from Chris Paul on DJ Wilson and the other coming from Lance Stephenson who shook Jeff Green all the way to the core of the earth. Both wildly impressive, both guys fortunately completed the move by making their jumper which really you have to do in that situation, so my question to you is, which one was better? We’ll start with the Paul cross since that happened first

It’s not everyday you see someone get sent literally off the court, so right off the bat that stands out to you. The guard vs big factors in for me here, if only because I don’t think anyone should expect a player like Wilson to be able to hang with Paul out on the perimeter. That’s a mismatch every single time, and while he did a good job of staying with him for a couple seconds, I feel like part of the reason this was so ridiculous was more about his momentum carrying him. That’s not me saying it wasn’t a nasty move, it was, but momentum definitely played a factor which if we’re judging solely on the move, hurts it a little bit. What makes this play jump out at you is where Wilson ended up, not necessarily the step back cross.

Then we have Lance. The man that loves to make em dance. This was a situation where Jeff Green was ready for him, thought he was in perfect position and then before he knew it he was dead. It wasn’t even that crazy of a dribbling sequence by Lance, so I was a little confused as to how simply going behind your back can have that sort of impact on a defender, and if you look closer you see why this happened. There’s just one problem here, when you watch this closely you see that Lance steps on Green’s left foot right as he begins his step back. That’s probably what caused him to fall like that, not the move. Had that not happened I would have given Lance the title without question, but if we’re being fair, that has to disqualify him. Impossible to notice in real time which is why the crowd reacted like they did, because without it this is a great shake, but with the power of reply that has to factor in.

That’s why for me, by default, I have to go with Chris Paul’s crossover. I know the Lakers need something positive, but I can’t let them have this. I would say this was like 1.5 great moves, and why the NBA is so fun to watch on a nightly basis. The skill level in terms of what these guys are able to do handling the ball seems to get better every year, and you never know when you’ll be blessed with a great basketball murder. Now I won’t say these were better than one of the best I’ve ever seen

But they were damn close. So I’ll ask you, between these two, who ya got?