Better in the finals - Melo or Paul?

[Marchesk]

Melo: 0 PPG, 0 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 SPG, 0 BPG, 0 FG%, 0 Wins, 0 FMVPs

Paul: 0 PPG, 0 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 SPG, 0 BPG, 0 FG%, 0 Wins, 0 FMVPs

This is a tough one, but I'm going to go with Melo, because Knicks and he almost got Denver there.

[TheMarkMadsen]

Big Chris Paul fan here but what are these "finals" you speak of

I always figured the season just ends after the second round

[SouBeachTalents]

Melo's better in the Finals, but CP3 is the superior conference finals performer

[sd3035]

Melo, by being ever so slightly less of a loser, he does drugs and gets into trouble with prostitutes while Paul sits on his couch crying

[Marchesk]

The good thing is that you lose zero finals that you don't play in. While all-time greats Lebron and Wilt lost four finals, Melo and Paul still have a clean slate.

[Noyze]

Anyone watching Denver's trip to the semi's in 2009 knows it was lead by Chauncey Billups. But I'll take Paul since he's not a cancer to his team.

[Naero]

Satirical thread or not, I'll reply with a speculatory approach.

Obviously, we don't have any substantive touchstone to judge their finals performances off of, but the past is the best predictor of the future we have to work with; therefore, how well they perform in the playoffs can bode strongly to a similar theme as finals-performing: how well they step up when the stakes are at its highest.

For a "superstar" (more nominal than effective here for me), Carmelo Anthony drops his FG% to a glaring 41.7% in the playoffs! His playstyle is similarly inefficient to Kobe's, except that Kobe has provenly been able to interbalance his shot-taking and scoring for the betterment of the team in some pivotal, needful moments, as well as play defense more consistently than 'Melo. 'melo's inflexible play-style is more than doable for teams to stymie in the playoffs--when zero in on the superstar; which is where the playmaking and/or off-ball movement of a superstar--both of which aren't pronounced elements of his repertoire--needs to be tapped in the most.

There is no question that Chris Paul has been a better team-leader, and he's more often than not been far from the the most underachieving team member when his team has fallen short. His legacy ends up unheralded due to playoff shortcomings, when he's the primary reason they even whiff the conference finals to begin with; if anything, he's engendered them to overachieve, considering how overrated his supporting cast is--two one-way all-stars, a few decent but overrated role-players, shallow bench talent, and no dependable X-factor so far.

Now that Paul has a consolidated bench to work with, given the off-season splash they've made, you can start to question his legacy as a team-leader if they continue their litany of early-round eliminations. However, enough has been seen in the playoffs to safely conclude that Paul would rise up to the challenge of finals-performing better than 'Melo.

[JohnMax]

2:57 to 3:01 In exactly half of Carmelo's playoff games, he's shot 40 percent or less

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jR90yAyTYY&t=2m57s

33 out of 66 playoff games where Melo shot 40 percent or less highlighted in yellow

http://imgur.com/FL5dIOY

Carmelo

regular season 25.2 ppg 6.6 rpg 3.1 apg 45.5%
playoffs 25.7 ppg 7.3 rpg 2.8 apg 41.7%

Kobe

regular season 25.4 ppg 5.3 rpg 4.8 apg 45.1%
playoffs 25.6 ppg 5.1 rpg 4.7 apg 44.8%

[TripleA]

So only 3 percent less than Kobe.:applause:
How great is Godmelo

[inclinerator]

2:57 to 3:01 In exactly half of Carmelo's playoff games, he's shot 40 percent or less

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jR90yAyTYY&t=2m57s

33 out of 66 playoff games where Melo shot 40 percent or less highlighted in yellow

http://imgur.com/FL5dIOY

Carmelo

regular season 25.2 ppg 6.6 rpg 3.1 apg 45.5%
playoffs 25.7 ppg 7.3 rpg 2.8 apg 41.7%

Kobe

regular season 25.4 ppg 5.3 rpg 4.8 apg 45.1%
playoffs 25.6 ppg 5.1 rpg 4.7 apg 44.8%

banned