The Clippers now hold a commanding 2-0 lead against Memphis Grizzlies. Much of this had to do with the heroics of Chris Paul. But here's an important question: should he have been playing? While it can be hard to remember the entire flow of a game, Popcornmachine.net provides us a way to know how the flow of the game was. Here's a breakdown of the boxscore.

PopcornMachine.net MEM-LAC Game 2 Gameflow

Play whoever's hot?

Chris Paul actually had a pretty mediocre first half. He had 5 assists to go with 1 turnover , which is pretty typical for Paul. However, with only 1 steal, 1 defensive board and 5 points on 5 attempts and 3 free throw attempts, Chris Paul was playing way below his usually self!

Bledsoe has the misfortune of being Chris Paul's backup. In a mere 8 minutes of play he managed to score 4 points on perfect shooting and get a block. Of course, he was benched due to foul trouble.

Starting the second half though we knew the following - Chris Paul was slumping and Bledsoe was hot. So clearly, the wise plan would have been to play Bledsoe and not Paul, right? Of course not! Paul would go on to score 19 points, get 4 assists with 0 turnovers and pulled down 3 boards. And in a two point win, his play was absolutely key! Basically, the Chris Paul in the second half is the Chris Paul we've seen all season.

Bledsoe is a good player. Chris Paul though, has been an MVP candidate every year he's been healthy in his career. He's played insane in the playoffs. A few bad minutes from Paul should not convince any coach to bench him (unless there's a legitimate reason like injury) Chris Paul is normally over twice the player Bledsoe is, so playing Paul over Bledsoe, even after a subpar half, is the right move!

Summing up

As a Nuggets fan I have to deal with George Karl making insane rotations on a nightly basis. And every night someone on the blogosphere tries to explain "No, you see player X was playing poorly so Karl HAD to bench them." as if that made any sense. The best coaches play their best players. Yes, there are definitely strategies around limiting minutes for health and rest. Yes, there are definitely set plays that can make sense for very quick rotations. However, benching a good player because he had a bad stretch? That would be as insane as benching Chris Paul in a playoff game.

-Dre