Chris Paul was pretty bummed out after losing to the Warriors
You can’t blame Chris Paul for being upset, really. His Los Angeles Clippers had fought back from a 17-point second-quarter deficit against the scorching-hot Golden State Warriors to take a lead after three quarters, thanks in large part to his brilliant work attacking the Dubs off the bounce, collapsing the defense and creating opportunities for his teammates. The Clips pushed that advantage to double-digits on a Jamal Crawford putback with just under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter … and it still didn’t matter.
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Ten unanswered points by about-to-be-obscenely-rich forward Harrison Barnes followed by a 13-points-in-5-1/2-minutes reminder that Stephen Curry is the most frightening thing in the NBA today and sensational late-game defense by the small-ball Draymond Green-at-center lineup that bedeviled the league last season put the Warriors back on top in the final minute. Whether due to momentary hesitation, the defense of Green or a combination of both, Paul missed an opportunity to hit an open Blake Griffin in the lane with just under 30 seconds remaining before instead uncorking a potential go-ahead 3-pointer that came up empty, leaving L.A. down two.
Trailing by four with 13 seconds left, Paul found himself on the sideline for the Clippers’ final possession, a spectator as Klay Thompson blocked Crawford’s last-gasp long-ball, sealing a 112-108 victory that kept Golden State perfect at 5-0 and handed the Clips their first defeat of the season.
The TNT cameras caught Paul looking shell-shocked and dispirited on the bench after the final buzzer:
Chris Paul was just crushed (req @kevinmdraper) pic.twitter.com/wxopjtRXER
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) November 5, 2015
… which immediately led to the unsheathing of the sharp knives.
“Please don’t meme me” pic.twitter.com/NSWW7rjAfC
— Amin Elhassan (@AminESPN) November 5, 2015
Alas, that is not how the Internet works.
when you’re all alone and the clock strikes midnight on new year’s eve pic.twitter.com/bu5eIcDMfJ
— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) November 5, 2015
Halfway thru steak night and you got the meat sweats. @AminESPN pic.twitter.com/PSIumSxkaI
— Marty (@MartyOropeza) November 5, 2015
When someone steals your lunch out the break room fridge. pic.twitter.com/SjUnrz9Ecf
— Amin Elhassan (@AminESPN) November 5, 2015
@AminESPN when “Netflix and chill” is actually Netflix and chill pic.twitter.com/kgmolA2qKP
— Knight of Ren (@Afrentao) November 5, 2015
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It is, perhaps, an ignominious end to a night that saw Paul score a team-high 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, dish nine assists against just two turnovers, and add three rebounds and three steals in 31 minutes. And yet, it seems to be the state of play in the NBA right now — even if you push the Warriors, even if you give them real tests and fight fire with fire, eventually (and especially in the friendly confines of Oracle Arena) they’re going to rear back and unleash hell. Withstanding the onslaught requires depth, discipline and — forgive me, Doc — a fairly significant amount of luck.
With the Clippers’ retooled bench firing blanks, head coach Doc Rivers rolling snake eyes on his rotation choices, the Warriors winning the battles on the margins and even doing some serious late-game damage by taking a page out of the Clippers’ playbook, fortune did not favor the Clips on Wednesday night. Case in point: the groin strain that put Pau on the sideline, and in position to become a meme, in the closing seconds. From Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com:
It takes something legitimate for Chris Paul to miss the final play in Golden State with his team trailing by four points with the ball and 13 seconds remaining.
Paul strained his groin late in the loss […] he said the injury happened somewhere “down the stretch” and he “without question” expects to play in Saturday’s game.
“I’ll be good,” Paul said. “Go home, let my kids take care of me. I’ll be all right.” […]
Paul said if he were in the playoffs, he probably would’ve returned, though the choice to sit out wasn’t his.
“The trainer told me, and Chris was trying to get on the floor, and I dragged him back,” Rivers said. “You could see he was not happy.”
And now, we’ll be seeing just how unhappy he was for an awfully long time.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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