"If You Try Me, You're Going To Get A Different Side Of Me" - Giannis Lost His Shit On Chris Paul And It's Very Clear They Hate Each Other's Guts

Ronald Cortes. Getty Images.

You know, I'm starting to think Giannis and Chris Paul don't exactly like each other. A beef that dates back to their meeting in the 2021 Finals when Giannis ripped a title out of Chris Paul's hands after going up on MIL 2-0, given what we saw last night it does not appear that time has healed any wounds. 

If you are someone who lives a normal life and was actually out doing something on a Friday night, allow me to bring you up to speed. We had a great Wemby vs Giannis showdown last night, a matchup that has proven to deliver every single time these two face off against each other. Both guys were awesome, they repeatedly went after each other which is exactly what everyone wants to see in this situation, and the game itself was fun as hell

But that's not why you clicked on this blog. While all this was going on, we also had ourselves a little Giannis vs CP3 battle that essentially took over the end of the game once the Spurs had pulled away.

It was a combination of events, all starting with this controversial play

Now, was that an overreaction by Giannis? Partially. It definitely was not as bad as that reaction warranted in my opinion. A slight shove, Giannis sort of trips as he spins and he thinks Paul deliberately did it. This is where it gets tricky. Anyone else, I'd say there was nothing there, but CP3 is a different case. He does tend to do shady shit on the court, sort of like a guard version of Draymond. That's a fair criticism in my opinion, plus we already know these two don't like each other.

Immediately after that, we had CP3 trolling Giannis from the FT line. In my opinion, a fair dig. Giannis stinks from the FT line and it repeatedly costs the Bucks games. To me this is a fine response to someone who reacted like Giannis did, you pester that guy to continue to get under his skin. A classic CP3 maneuver.

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after the final whistle, we had ourselves your classic NBA standoff. It wasn't quite a "HOOLLLLDDD MMEEEE BAAAACKKKK" situation, but it was similar. What exactly did Giannis think was going to happen there, that they would fight midcourt? Again, it feels like a little bit of an overreaction.

Then we got to the postgame and well, have a listen

See, this is where it gets tough for me. On one hand, I agree with Giannis' overall complaint that Chris Paul may or may not have done something fishy. We all know that's part of his deal. But Giannis talking all tough like this and crying about it like this is a bit off-putting considering ya know, he does dangerous and childish shit all the time. In fact, we've already seen it this season!

When he's the one flying in with an elbow to the face and then mocks the player he just hit in the face, it's all good right? What about putting your body at risk? Your career at risk? What makes you laugh can make you cry? It all seems a tad hypocritical to me. Almost like it's OK for Giannis do to shady shit to players and for him to mock players, but don't you dare try anything like that on him. I don't even want to take Chris Paul's side here, but I mean that's pretty lame.

You could pull the same type of highlight reel of Giannis making questionable dirty plays as you could CP3. He's reckless more often than not, so in a way, there's a real lack of self-awareness at play here.

As a result, I'm not sure who I would declare the "winner" of this beef/dust up. In fact, I think everyone is actually the loser. Giannis, CP3, the fans, we all walk away with the L. It's not surprising to me that CP3 found himself in this situation and it's not surprising that Giannis overreacted how he did while also ignoring his own history when talking about it afterward. 

Maybe these two just need to settle their beef in the next Rough N Rowdy or something, because what we got in this game was kind of lame.