The Houston Rockets defeated the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night to set up a likely battle with the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. Though Chris Paul was the least-efficient starter for the Rockets, he still stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in 37 minutes. The Rockets did not particularly bring their fastball in this one, but they were still able to stifle the Jazz on defense, where Utah only shot 37.2 percent from the field.

After the game, Paul was all smiles in his postgame interview on TNT until an unusual occurrence took place.

As you can see, P.J. Tucker, who also played a terrific defensive game in this one, wanted to celebrate with Paul by rubbing his head after the victory. Paul did not take kindly to that, though he softened after he realized it was Tucker.

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Chris Paul in a Spurs jersey, with Victor Wembanyama and Gregg Popovich smiling at him

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This begs the question: What would Paul have done if it was someone else? Would all teammates have been given the OK to touch Paul’s head? Beyond that, why do some people just despise having their heads touched?

There were no answers to that question in tonight’s Rockets game, but Houston did acquit themselves well and now they’ll have a few days off before their next game against a to be determined opponent.