Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey revealed that among all his players, it was Chris Paul who took the hardest emotional hit after their Game 7 loss in the Western Conference Finals.
As reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, Morey said:
“He took it the hardest, I thought, because he knew if he hadn't had the unfortunate injury, he's dragging us the last (way to the Finals),” Morey said Wednesday.
“He's been there before at those moments and got injured sometimes. Yeah, he took it hard. But you know what, he'll be back. He'll be back 100 percent and we're ready to go.”
It was the first time in Paul's career that he reached the conference finals. He came close several times when he was with the L.A. Clippers. It's easy to understand why he took that loss the hardest.
As bad luck would have it, Paul suffered a hamstring strain in Game 5. It forced him to sit out in Game 6. The Rockets were up 3-2 at that point. The Rockets would've wrapped up the series if Paul had just suited up.
Come Game 7, Paul still wasn't cleared to play. And as everyone expected, without Paul, the Rockets had a slim chance. The Warriors eliminated his team in seven games.
Head coach Mike D'Antoni remains proud of what his boys accomplished:
“Now, hoping to replace that with something even better. That won't diminish what they did this year. We have a higher goal. It will not diminish what these guys are doing. Not everybody from this team will probably be back for the higher thing. That won't diminish who they are and what they did.”
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