Rockets Take Game 5 But Lost Chris Paul in the Process

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Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals was an ugly bout of fisticuffs that happens outside of a bar in the MS Delta (namely at a place called On the Rocks) at roughly 2:10 in the morning right after it closed when conflicting signals over one of the eight girls in the bar set off a moment of sheer testosterone-induced insanity.

The result was a punch to the throat from the Rockets that ended a 16-game home playoff win streak for the Golden State Warriors.

Though an offensive juggernaut all season, the Rockets were built for ugly. James Harden is a finesse scorer who thrives when he can get opposing players off-balance, but players like Eric Gordon, Clint Capella, Trevor Ariza, and, of course, Chris Paul have the ability to shift the game to a violent slog.

When you look at the state line for the stars for Golden State, the four guys that were set to keep the newfound dynasty rolling, you’d see roughly what you were looking for, albeit with less efficiency.

Kevin Durant had 29 points (10/10 on free throws; 3-for-6 on 3s) with four rebounds.

Klay went 4/7 on 3-pointers on his way to 23 points.

Steph put up 22 points with four steals.

Draymond Green put up a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds in 42 minutes.

That’s 86 of their 94 points. They got literally nothing from their bench, revealing the secret flaw in the machine that wasn’t nearly as prominent in recent years.

It’s impossible to imagine the Warriors getting bullied like they did, but that’s the only way to describe what happened.

Leading the charge for the Rockets was point guard Chris Paul, who put up 20 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, along with bothering the absolute shit out of Curry, who struggled from 3-land with a 2/8 performance.

Paul, on the other hand, was playing with an almost disrespectful amount of swagger.

Speaking of disrespect, this move may have single-handedly won the game for the Rockets:

It was so disrespectful that Steph Curry had no choice but to respect it.

It was well deserved. It was a tough shot. If you can shimmy on somebody else you gotta be alright getting shimmied on. So I’ll keep shimmying, and maybe he will too.

Then the dumbest thing imaginable happened.

Chris Paul hurt his hamstring.

It’s both the most Christ Paul and Rockets things ever.

His playoff future lingers in doubt.

If you ask Chris Paul, however, he’s for sure going to be playing on Saturday.

Whether you love or hate Chris Paul, it’s impossible to argue that the man delivers when his team needs him the most.

A lack of titles is the only chink in his Hall of Fame-worthy resume.

He’s been so close so many teams, but bad luck, injuries, and failure have haunted him.

The new injury will either give him his Jordan flu game or will be yet another bad memory in a long string of them.

UPDATE: Chris Paul is officially out for Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, per ESPN.