Chris Paul is a win away from finally reaching the Western Conference finals in his 10th season in the playoffs.
But the Houston guard isn’t looking ahead to what most expect will be a showdown with the defending champion Golden State Warriors in the next round.
After all
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Paul is normally reticent to discuss his past playoff failures, but the nine-time All-Star was candid about that particular letdown when he was interviewed on TNT moments after Houston took a 3-1 lead over the Utah Jazz with a 100-87 win in Game 5.
He was asked if he’s allowed himself to think about being in the finals for the first time.
”It’s the process man,” he said. ”I’ve been here before, 3-1. (Expletive) went bad real quick, you know what I mean?”
The collapse that Paul is referring to came at the hands of the Rockets. Paul and the Clippers raced out to a 3-1 lead in the conference semifinals. They got blown out in Game 5, wasted a 19-point second-half lead in a loss in Los Angeles in Game 6, then fell in Game 7 at Houston.
Paul got prickly later when asked to expand on his comments and share what he learned from that series. He deflected the question with a joke before finally mumbling: `don’t relax,’ before James Harden stepped in to save his teammate from the uncomfortable moment.
”He’s not even thinking about that honestly,” Harden said. ”We’ve got a game on Tuesday and we’re going to do whatever it takes to close it out.”
Houston’s game against Utah is one of two games on Tuesday. In the other game, the Warriors also have a chance to finish off their series with the New Orleans Pelicans after taking a 3-1 lead with a 118-92 win on Sunday.
This is Paul’s fifth appearance in the conference semifinals after losing to the Spurs 4-3 in 2008 while with New Orleans, being swept by San Antonio in 2012 with the Clippers and losing 4-2 to the Thunder with that team before that 2015 debacle against the Rockets.
Coach Mike D’Antoni said the most important quality Paul has brought to the Rockets in his first year with the team is his toughness and edge. He doesn’t expect to see anything different out of him on Tuesday despite having the opportunity to finally shed the label that he can’t get out of the second round.
”It’s hard to go up another notch. I think he’s on full-tilt all the time,” D’Antoni said. ”You’d have to talk to him a little bit (but) I’m sure it’s on his mind.”
For the Jazz, they’re hoping that they can recreate the success they had in Game 2 when they led by as many as 19 points early, and held on for a 116-108 win.
”We were on a different level in Game 2 and I think we’ve just got to get back to that,” rookie Donovan Mitchell said.
Utah could get a boost in Game 6 with the return of Ricky Rubio. He’s missed the entire series with a strained left hamstring
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However, they could be without reserve point guard Dante Exum in Game 6 after he left Sunday’s game in the third quarter with soreness in his left hamstring.
Here’s a closer look at the Pelicans-Warriors game.
PELICANS AT WARRIORS
Warriors lead series 3-1. Game 5, 10:30 p.m. EDT, TNT
NEED TO KNOW: The Warriors have been dominant on their home floor for two straight postseasons, having won a franchise-record 14 consecutive playoff games at Oracle Arena and already closed out the Spurs at Oakland in Game 5.
With a 15th straight home playoff win, the Warriors would tie Chicago for an NBA record. The Bulls did so from April 27, 1990, to May 21, 1991.
”We’ve got to win one game at Oracle and that’s the one that we play next,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. ”That’s as far as we need to look. Obviously it’s a monumental task. It’s been done before. As I said to the guys, `We just got to go and play and you’re not out until they win four games.”’
KEEP ANY EYE ON: Stephen Curry continues to find his groove and this will be his fourth game back from nearly six weeks sidelined with a sprained left knee. His minutes are increasing each game he plays, up to 31 in Game 4.
Curry is 22 for 51 with 12 3s so far this series.
TOUGH CHALLENGE: The Pelicans never know which Golden State star might be on any given night – or all of them at once.
The Warriors led wire to wire in Game 4 following its 19-point embarrassment in Game 3. Kevin Durant is coming off a 38-point performance, but it could be Klay Thompson’s turn, or Draymond Green chasing another triple-double.
”The bigger the game the better Draymond plays,” coach Steve Kerr said
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Durant has scored 20 or more points in 16 straight postseason games.
PRIORITY ON SHOOTING: Gentry gives New Orleans little chance of staying in the series and staving off elimination without a big scoring performance. The Pelicans lost 118-92 on Sunday and shot just 36.4 percent – 32 of 88 and 4 for 26 on 3-pointers.
”You’re not going to beat them if you’re not going to score 115 points, I don’t care how good your defense is,” These are highly uncertain times for the San Antonio Spurs.
That’s why Lonnie Walker IV might be so valuable.
This is a summer when Spurs mainstay Tony Parker has already left for Charlotte, when four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili is going through what now seems like his annual contemplation of retirement and when 2014 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard’s future is most uncertain – both in terms of where he may play next and if his quadriceps injury is healed to the point where he can return to the court.
But Walker IV is here, and he’s eager to be a part of whatever will be in San Antonio.
”I’ve worked so hard to get to this moment that I can’t not be confident to play against grown men who are older than me,” said Walker, who turned pro after one season with the Miami Hurricanes. ”I know day-in and day-out the blood, sweat and tears I put into this game and how great a player I can become.”
He had 14 points in the Spurs’ 95-90 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday – Day 3 of the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where there was another 10-game slate as the teams progress toward the start of playoffs later this week.
It’s hard to imagine there’s a player in Las Vegas happier with his current lot in life than Walker IV.
He just got his first apartment, a major accomplishment for a kid whose upbringing in Reading, Pennsylvania was often challenging to say the least. In an Instagram post after getting his new place in San Antonio, Walker IV opened up about how hard times were.
”Survival by the fittest was the strategy growing up,” he wrote. ”Splitting a cheeseburger for dinner. Chips for breakfast. Not knowing where I will sleep the next day. Living with 10 plus people. Waking up in the middle of the night because your house got shot up. Who would’ve thought at the age of 19. I’m alive and healthy and just got my first apt. Who would’ve thought that this kid from Reading would make it out. No one understands my struggle and my pain.”
Such worries are long gone.
He’s guaranteed to make $5 million in salary over the next two years
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In other words, no more splitting cheeseburgers for him. And he hopes his story motivates anyone it reaches.
”To any kid who is trying to become an NBA player or trying to become something in life, I’ve been through it all,” Walker IV said. ”You can’t let adversity continue to knock you down. I just want to continue to motivate everyone and believe that they can be happy and be something special.”
Sunday’s summaries:
SPURS 95, WIZARDS 90
Jaron Blossomgame’s follow-up dunk with 9.7 seconds left helped San Antonio, which led by 20 points early, hold off Washington. The Wizards had two shots to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, missing both. Blossomgame led the Spurs (1-1) with 22 points. Devin Robinson scored 24 points, Troy Brown Jr. added 21 and Thomas Bryant scored 20 on 9-for-11 shooting for Washington (0-2).
TIMBERWOLVES 103, RAPTORS 92
Keita Bates-Diop scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Minnesota (1-1). Jonathan Stark and Josh Okogie each added 16 points for the Timberwolves. Jordan Loyd scored 17 for the Raptors (0-2).
HORNETS 94, HEAT 90
Willy Hernangomez and Dwayne Bacon had 22 points apiece and second-round pick Devonte Graham made all four free throws in the final 5.2 seconds to help the Hornets hold off the Heat. Graham finished with 12 points and the No. 12 selection Miles Bridges added 14 points for Charlotte (2-0). Daryl Macon had 17 points and Landry Nnoko added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat (0-2). Derrick Jones Jr. left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury.
TRAIL BLAZERS 85, HAWKS 68
Jake Layman scored 23, going 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and John Jenkins and Anfernee Simons added 12 points apiece for the Trail Blazers (2-0). John Collins had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks (0-2), who were 4 of 28 from 3-point range. No. 5 pick Trae Young was scoreless in nine minutes before leaving the game with a quad contusion. The injury is not considered to be serious.
MAVERICKS 81
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Johnathan Motley had 20 points and seven rebounds, Dorian Finney-Smith added 14 points and Dennis Smith Jr. scored 10 for the Mavericks (1-1). The Bucks rallied late, but second-round pick Jalen Brunson made a steal in the final seconds that secured the win for Dallas. Travis Trice II had 16 points, Sterling Brown scored 14 and Christian Wood had 10 points and 10 boards for the Bucks (1-1).
ROCKETS 87, WARRIORS 81
RJ Hunter scored 24 and made 5 of 11 from 3-point range, and De’Anthony Melton added 17 points for Houston (2-0). The Rockets outscored the Warriors 35-14 in the fourth quarter and closed the game on a 7-1 run. Marcus Derrickson had 23 points to lead the Warriors (1-1).
JAZZ 90, KNICKS 85
Georges Niang had 20 points and eight rebounds and Tony Bradley scored 16 points for Utah (1-1). Niang made a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. Diamond Stone added 14 points and Jairus Lyles scored 11. No. 9 pick Kevin Knox scored 19 to lead the Knicks (1-1). Frank Ntilikina added 17 points, Allonzo Trier scored 15 and second-round pick Mitchell Robinson – who signed a multiyear contract Sunday – had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
MAGIC 86, GRIZZLIES 56
Jonathan Isaac, the No. 6 overall selection last year, had 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocks, and Mo Bamba – this year’s sixth overall pick R.