The Houston Rockets grabbed a huge Game 5 win on Thursday night to pull ahead of the Golden State Warriors in their Western Conference Finals series. They are just one win shy of reaching the NBA Finals. This was led by a strong outing from Chris Paul, who scored 20 points with 18 coming in the second half that helped push his team over the top.
One of the made shots in the second half was a well-defended 3-pointer over Stephen Curry that he broke out the shimmy that the two-time league MVP had done in Game 3. According to Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post, Curry stated that he felt Paul deserved to break out the move after hitting a tough shot over him.
Stephen Curry on Chris Paul’s shimmy: “It was well deserved. That was a tough shot. If you’re going to shimmy, you have to be all right getting shimmied on.”
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 25, 2018
It may have been brought out in a way of mocking Curry, but it was a well-deserved celebration given the utter difficulty of the shot. The Warriors' star point guard was draped all over Paul that made him adjust to fade away in order to even have a chance to nail the shot. This was simply the perfect moment for Paul to get one over Curry in what turned out to be one of the key baskets that helped push his team past the defending champions.
However, there are some serious concerns with the hamstring injury that he suffered late in the game that he was able to battle through. It's one that could change the course of the series now the Rockets have the momentum. This could affect Paul's ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor while potentially pushing him out of the lineup for Game 6.
It's still quite early to make a determination on his status with Game 6 back at Oracle Arena on Saturday, which will give him next two days to rest while he prepares to give it a go. In the meantime, this was a unique moment between two of the league's best point guards.
Follow Us
Subscribe