Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets were a team built to beat the beasts of the NBA’s Western Conference, but they’ve fallen short of that goal now on consecutive seasons since Paul joined James Harden in Houston. It’s a tough pill to swallow for both Harden and Paul, who are seeing their window for a title slipping away while Golden State continues to dominate the NBA.
And the loss in Game 6 was a particularly tough one given that Steph Curry struggled the entire first half and Kevin Durant’s minutes were taken up by a litany of bench players who kept pace with the Rockets and pulled away when Curry and Klay Thompson got hot in the fourth quarter. The rivalry between Golden State and Houston is lopsided in the postseason, but it is real. And the Warriors had an extra jolt of adrenaline in Game 6 because of an incident that happened before the game.
Marcus Thompson II’s story for The Athletic leads with a firsthand account of Draymond Green and Steph Curry taunting Chris Paul after the Game 6 win that ended the series between the Rockets and Warriors.
As the story explains, Curry was actually kicked off the court in Houston before Game 6 despite the Warriors reserving some time for him to shoot.
On the night before Friday’s Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, after arriving from the Bay Area, Curry wanted to get some shots up at Toyota Center. The Warriors’ do-it-all manager, Eric Housen, booked the court from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. so Curry could work on his shot. Somehow, Rockets guard Chris Paul got wind. He decided to go to Toyota Center to get shots up, nixing Curry’s reservations. The Warriors’ point guard offered to stick to half a court, but Paul wasn’t having it. Curry was kicked off the Toyota Center court.
Hence: “Kick me off the court again, boy!” And Green replied to Curry’s taunt by screaming, “Kick him off! Kick him off!”
It’s a story that may show Paul as ultra-competitive, but the overall picture and the result of the game that follows certainly paints the Rockets veteran in a poor light. All’s fair in the NBA postseason, and any edge you can get over the opponent might make a difference. But it didn’t make one here, and when the game clock started the court the two teams played on was theirs for either team to dominate. It was Curry, eventually, who got the right to celebrate on it when the time came.
