The next two or three games of the Western Conference Finals have a lot at stake — but nobody has more to lose or gain than Chris Paul and James Harden.
Both players are considered superstars in the NBA, but when it comes to their playoff credentials, they’re placed in a lower tier than the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and other championship-winning players. The narrative is that they can’t win in May and June, and they’ve been fighting against that this postseason.
The Rockets have fought for the majority of their series against the Warriors. Aside from a crushing 126-85 beatdown in Game 3 on the road (filled with “throw the damn towel” memes), they’ve had star turns from Harden and Paul, while also getting useful outbursts from Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, and Gerald Green.
The Rockets’ biggest test came in Game 4. They got down early, 12-0, and it looked like the Warriors were going to cruise to a 3-1 series lead. Down 18-7, Harden broke, and passed up on a wide open look from three:
deadass who took the batteries out of James Harden’s controller? (via @BleacherReport) pic.twitter.com/CfGySCnOEa
— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) May 23, 2018
Harden’s going to be the NBA’s MVP this year. To see him pass that look to P.J. Tucker was alarming. There are not many other players in the association you’d want in that spot other than Harden.
After the Rockets punched back in the second quarter, the Warriors responded with one of their signature third quarter performances, outscoring the Rockets 34-17. Curry spearheaded the charge, going toe to toe with the Rockets with 17 of his own points. Curry’s shoulders were shimmying — the equivalent of a wolf showing its teeth before engulfing its prey.
But Paul led the Rockets back in the fourth quarter with eight points, two rebounds, and two assists to outscore the Warriors 25-12 for the 95-92 victory. Curry and Durant combined for 2-of-13 shooting from the field in the quarter, where the only other field goal made was from Shaun Livingston. Now the Rockets have home court advantage back, and their best chance to slay the giant.
We knew the Rockets were going to be special early on this season. They opened the season 11-4 with Chris Paul missing all but the first game of the season (which happened to be against the Warriors), before winning 14 consecutive games after his return. When the Rockets acquired Paul in the offseason, there were questions regarding the fit between him and Harden on the court. But those were answered almost immediately, and the Rockets became one of the must-watch teams in the NBA. Rosy postseason predictions and fantasies soon followed.
With the playoff histories of Paul and Harden in mind, the series we all have anticipated this season was not the NBA Finals, but rather Rockets-Warriors. That’s not out of disrespect to LeBron James. We’re at a point where we just kind of expect him to be there — death, taxes, LeBron in the NBA Finals, etc. Rather, this was the first time since the Warriors signed Kevin Durant and gave us the Hamptons Five that we thought another Western Conference team had a legit shot at them. But the questions still lingered because Paul and Harden’s reputations (fair or unfair) precede them.
Paul couldn’t get into the Western Conference Finals for the longest time. It seemed like he was going to break through that ceiling with the Clippers in 2015 after beating the Spurs in seven games and getting a 3-1 lead on the Rockets. But you know how 3-1 leads can go sometimes in the NBA.
Harden’s case was similar. Except when he was Oklahoma City’s sixth man in 2012, he hasn’t been back to a Finals. His only Western Conference Finals prior to this season came in 2015 after knocking off Paul and the Clippers, only to lose in five games to ... the Warriors.
There’s never been a Game 5 in professional sports that hasn’t had great implications. But this isn’t an ordinary Game 5 for Harden and Paul. Their narratives will change the most depending on the outcome.
It would be one thing if they were tasked with beating a regular, good, fundamentally solid team to get to the Finals — but they aren’t. They’re taking on the Warriors, a team that is considered to be one of the best of all-time. They have two of the best shooters the game has ever seen, a seven-foot scoring God, and a ferocious defensive stopper and emotional leader. The ways that they can beat you are endless, and more often than not, demoralizing.
If Harden and Paul can accomplish an NBA Finals appearance, over this team, it will speak volumes towards their legacies. It might not even matter what happens in the NBA Finals. We would all remember those jokes about not needing to play the season because the Warriors would be winding up in the Finals again and how dumb we were, because we didn’t give Chris Paul and James Harden the credit they deserve.