This was supposed to be the year Chris Paul's dubious streak of never reaching the conference finals ended. The Clippers were up 3-1 on the Houston Rockets after two blowout victories in Games 3 and 4. They had a 19-point lead in the third quarter of Game 6. They entered Sunday's Game 7 with an undefeated record in decisive games since 2012.
It didn't matter. Chris Paul's team lost again. And so, Chris Paul again falls short of the conference finals.
This is getting ridiculous. Paul's done almost everything one can ask, and yet it hasn't been enough. That photoshop is fitting because this is Paul's second-round history.
2008: Lost Game 7 at home as a member of the Hornets after his team took a 3-2 series lead on the Spurs. Paul scored 18 points and had 14 assists, but couldn't stop Jannero Pargo from clanking shots in the fourth quarter.
2012: Swept by the Spurs after an emotional first-round victory over Memphis.
2014: Lost Game 5 to the Thunder because Paul blew a seven-point lead with 49 seconds left all by himself. He turned the ball over with 17 seconds left because he pulled his old "pretend to shoot a 70-footer to draw a shooting foul" tactic. Then, he fouled Russell Westbrook on a three that gave Oklahoma City the lead. The Clippers went on to lose Game 6 too and the series.
2015: The worst of them all. His Clippers blew a 19-point lead in Game 6, then mostly laid down in Game 7 until the end. Paul had 26 points and nine assists in the clincher, but the rest of his team didn't show up.
Let the hot CP3 takes commence. There's nothing we can do to stop them.
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