Chris Paul suffers injury in the final moments of Game 5
By Ian Levy
The Rockets won an enormous Game 5 but watched Chris Paul suffer a potentially serious injury in the final moments.
After an incredible effort, the Houston Rockets are one game away from the NBA Finals. Unfortunately, they may need to get there without Chris Paul.
The Rockets came away with an incredible 98-94 win in Game 5, in large part due to the heroics of Paul. He finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists, making several impossible looking shots over the outstretched arms of Warriors defenders in the second half. However, with the game on the line, Paul drove the lane and pulled up for a floater. He fell to the floor, without contact, holding his right hamstring.
It was Paul’s left hamstring that held him out of the lineup earlier in the regular season but this was clearly a painful injury. He limped through the ensuing two possessions, standing in the corner as the Rockets regained the ball. At the next dead ball, he want right to the bench and watched as his team closed out the crucial win.
Paul has been averaging 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in this series, 43.3 percent from the field and 34.5 percent on 3-pointers. Although those numbers are well below his career playoff averages, his steady leadership and incredible shotmaking have been one of the keys to the Rockets taking a 3-2 series lead.
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We’ll likely hear soon on Paul’s status for Game 6 and beyond. If he isn’t available the Rockets chances of winning the series would almost certainly hit a tailspin. The Warriors have been suffering from their own injury woes, missing Andre Iguodala for the last two games — both Houston wins. It’s frustrating to think that a series as competitive as this one could be decided by an injury to a key player but this is the unfortunate truth of professional sports. Please by okay Chris Paul.