That analysis was exactly right.
In the original timeline, once Chris Paul joined the Clippers and developed chemistry with Griffin, he helped lift them from the bottom of the Western Conference all the way to fifth place.
They even finished only one game behind the third seed.
It was a massive leap.
Without Paul, however, the current Clippers could only continue struggling.
The fourth quarter had already become complete garbage time, and the remaining minutes disappeared quickly.
There was never any suspense.
The Clippers sank, and the Suns finished them off by 31 points.
...
The next day, Phoenix flew to Washington for a road game against the Wizards.
At 8:00 p.m., with half an hour left before tip-off, the arena was already buzzing.
The biggest attraction was clearly the matchup between Blake and Wall.
Blake's very first NBA game the previous season had also come against Washington.
Wall had played extremely well that night, and he had opened this new season in excellent form too. On the surface, the matchup looked a lot like their meeting a year ago.
The difference was that Wall's attitude had completely changed.
Last season, he had looked down on Blake and believed he could easily crush some unknown rookie.
This season, Wall had long since become one of Blake's biggest fans.
Even after scoring 35 points and hitting a game-winner in his previous game, and even with home-court advantage tonight, he still approached Blake as the challenger.
"Hey, Blake. I trained seriously all offseason. Tonight, I'm officially challenging you.
"I'm definitely beating you this time.
"I'm going to prove I deserved to be the No. 1 pick and show..."
Wall stopped halfway through the sentence.
After thinking about it, he decided there was no point finishing.
By now, he understood that no matter what he proved, he was not going to steal the spotlight from Blake.
At this point, simply getting the chance to go head-to-head with Blake in a great game would be satisfying, even if he lost.
"Sounds good."
Blake smiled.
Outside of a very small number of players, Blake had never been particularly good at holding grudges.
And Wall had become one of his little fanboys, repeatedly praising and supporting him on Twitter.
Blake certainly had no reason to target him personally.
Off the court was one thing, though.
Once the game started, Blake had no intention of going easy on Wall at all.
Warm-ups soon ended, and both starting lineups took the floor.
Washington opened with John Wall at point guard, Nick Young at shooting guard, Chris Singleton at small forward, Cartier Martin at power forward, and JaVale McGee at center.
Phoenix started Steve Nash, Stephen Curry, Paul George, Blake, and Yao Ming.
"Jump ball!"
As usual, Blake beat McGee to the ball and tipped it away first.
Wall had started the season in good form and had prepared carefully for his matchup with the defending champions.
He wanted to put together another strong performance.
And he did.
The problem was that he was the only Wizards player who really showed up.
Nick Young, always capable of going hot or cold without warning, was cold tonight.
Phoenix was a completely different story.
Blake was as steady as ever.
Washington had nobody who could contain him one-on-one, which left the Wizards with no choice but to double him and pressure him aggressively.
That gave Curry, George, and the rest of the Suns plenty of opportunities to score.
Phoenix led by nine after the first quarter, widened the gap in the second, and went into halftime ahead by 14.
In the second half, Blake continued using the enormous amount of defensive attention he attracted to create assists for his teammates, even though pure passing had never been one of his greatest strengths.
His height and exceptional leaping ability also made him an elite rim protector.
More importantly, Washington was fooling itself if it thought a double-team alone could shut Blake down.
At the same time, Nash's control of the game and passing became even more dangerous as the talent around him improved.
Blake and Nash could both run the offense.
Curry and George had taken another step forward.
The Suns' "evolved" run-and-gun system had become faster, sharper, and even harder to stop.
After three quarters, Phoenix led by 25.
Blake had once again put up huge numbers without seeming to force anything.
He finished his night with 33 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
Another triple-double.
Another three-quarter night.
The fourth quarter naturally became garbage time.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were watching from the stands.
Pippen shook his head with a smile.
"Blake makes this look way too easy."
"Heh."
Jordan laughed.
"They're the defending champions. They're several levels better than Washington, so they should win.
"But Stephen and George have both improved, and adding Yao Ming and Klay has made Phoenix much stronger than last year.
"All of them are taking pressure off Blake.
"That's why the game looks so easy for him.
"This year's Suns are going to be even scarier than last year's."
"Exactly."
There was no comeback.
Phoenix eventually beat Washington by 22.
Wall scored a respectable 28 points, but it still amounted to an empty performance in a loss.
He also challenged Blake one-on-one four times during the game.
He lost all four.
Afterward, Wall found Blake and shook his head helplessly.
"Blake, it's only been a year, but the gap between us has gotten so much bigger."
"Oh?"
Blake blinked, then shook his head with a faint smile.
"That gap wasn't created in the past year.
"The gap between us was already huge from the beginning."
"What?!"
Wall stared at him, speechless.
A moment later, he could only sigh and accept the cruel reality.
...
Two days later, the Suns flew to Toronto for another road game.
DeRozan had been excellent on opening night, so fans still had some hope that he might give Blake and Phoenix a real challenge.
Instead, the game unfolded much like the one against Washington.
The Suns pushed their run-and-gun style to the extreme.
At times, they even launched four-man fast breaks without waiting for Yao Ming to get up the floor.
Toronto could not keep up.
Blake attacked relentlessly on his own.
Blake and Nash controlled the flow of the offense together.
George and Curry were becoming increasingly dependable on both ends.
Yao Ming gave them low-post scoring and rim protection.
Every part of the team fit together.
Phoenix controlled both offense and defense, and the Raptors simply could not match the pace.
The rhythm and result looked almost exactly like the games against the Clippers and Wizards.
After three quarters, the Suns led by 18.
Blake had already recorded another triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
His night was over.
Clocking out with only an 18-point lead?
Yes.
Blake was the only starter done for good.
George, Curry, and a few of the others returned for several minutes in the fourth quarter to steady the lead before the rest of the game turned into pure garbage time.
The fans never got the Blake versus DeRozan scoring duel they had hoped for.
Instead, they got another display of the defending champions' frightening, one-sided dominance.
Phoenix cruised to the win and improved to 4-0.
...
That night, the league was once again talking about "The Emperor" Blake.
After opening the season with his insane 82-point performance, he had followed it with three consecutive triple-doubles.
The Suns had ended each of those three games after three quarters and opened the season with four straight wins.
Blake's consistency was becoming just as astonishing as his explosions.
...
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