(CRAFT)[CHRIS PAUL IS A SPECIAL PLAYER WHEN HE’S GOING TO HIS RI

I mean, he’s good going left, too—but he’s tremendous going to his right. Obviously then, my first line of defense is tying up his right hand. As you can see, I would put my left hand there to let him know that if you try going right, I’m going to take the ball from you or, at least, make it hard for you to pick up the ball.

Also, I would use my height and length advantage to bother him. When he would go up to shoot, I would contest. When he would go to drive, I would body him. When he would go to pass, I’d try to read the angles and cut them off by using my length. Anything, really, to throw him off his game.

Another method I employed was anticipation. The best way to anticipate what CP—what anyone—is going to do is by studying their game. If you do that, you’ll know what they like to do in certain places, and you can predict that and become the aggressor.