HOUSTON — Chris Paul, 13 years into his career, is finally going to the conference finals.
The future Hall of Famer made sure of that.
Paul and the Houston Rockets advanced to the Western Conference finals with a 112-102 win in Tuesday night’s Game 5, eliminating the Utah Jazz. Paul starred in the series-clinching win, recording a career-playoff-high 41 points and a game-high 10 assists.
“CP3! CP3! CP3!” the Toyota Center crowd chanted late in the fourth quarter after a Paul scoring flurry put the game out of reach for the Rockets. He had 20 points in the final quarter alone. After Utah pulled within one point to 97-96, Paul hit jumpers on the next four Rockets possessions, including a pair of 3-pointers, the last one kissing off the glass to give Houston a nine-point lead with 2:30 remaining.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Paul had the most playoff experience of any player in NBA history without a conference finals appearance. Tuesday marked the 86th playoff game of his career. Paul’s nine All-Star Game appearances matched Dominique Wilkins for the most in NBA history for a player without a conference finals berth.
Afterward, though, Paul said getting to the West finals is simply one step toward a much greater goal.
“Who plays just for that?” Paul told ESPN, dismissing the thought that advancing past the second round alleviated any pressure on him. “Know what I’m saying? Not at all, not at all. We’ve got eight more wins to get. I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Paul, 33, had made four previous trips to the second round of the postseason, once with the New Orleans Hornets and three times with the LA Clippers. He twice came a game away from the conference finals. Paul’s Hornets lost a Game 7 to the San Antonio Spurs in 2008, his first playoff appearance, and the Clippers lost a Game 7 to Houston in 2015.
The loss to the Rockets was especially painful, as Houston rallied from a 3-1 series deficit despite Paul averaging 26.3 points and 10.3 assists in the last three games. It is one of only 11 times in NBA history that a team overcame a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series.
That marked the third time in Paul’s first four seasons in Los Angeles that the Clippers’ season ended in the second round. Paul primarily blamed himself for the Clippers’ failure to advance to the conference finals the previous year, as he committed two turnovers and an uncharacteristically ill-advised foul in the final 17.8 seconds of a pivotal Game 5 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who rallied from seven points down in the last minute.
After the Clippers made first-round exits the past two seasons, Paul pushed for a trade to the Rockets to maximize his chances to win a championship.
Said Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell to his mentor after the game: “Get your first ring, bro.”
Source:ESPN
