Chris Paul had harsh words for himself after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 2 loss to the Houston Rockets: “I gotta do more… I gotta be better.”
“We put ourselves in position to win that game and I gotta be better for us,” he said after that game in which he was minus-36 and making six of 15 shots.
He was better in Game Three. Excellent, in fact. Paul had 26 points, led an offense with much-improved pace, and made huge plays late to push the Thunder to a 119-107 win, helping cut the series deficit to 2-1.
With 24 seconds left, the Thunder trailed by two. Paul drove, attracted the help defense, and kicked it out to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who sank a 3 with 14 seconds left to take the lead and help send the team to overtime.
Then in overtime, Paul made two 3-pointers, one of which was a fadeaway falling out of bounds as the shot clock expired that essentially iced the game.
Chris Paul…. filthy. pic.twitter.com/V4Wwqfq8CX
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 23, 2020
So yes: In Game 3, Paul was better than Game 2. He helped the Thunder take home what was more or less was a must-win game, as no NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit.
“I just needed to pay with better pace, be more aggressive, take the shots when they were there. And be better defensively. I gave up lots of corner 3s, a lot of defensive assignments,” Paul said. “Aside from the shots, I think I was a lot better defensively.”
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James Harden fouled out one minute into overtime, and from there, Paul took over, leading Oklahoma City on a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Over the first two games, Oklahoma City struggled to maintain a fast pace and keep up with the Rockets. In Game Three, Paul and the Thunder adjusted, pushing it quickly in transition and wearing out the Rockets.
“I think we just wanted to fight. We know how tough it is coming back from down 3-0, so we wanted to fight tonight and I think that’s what we did,” Paul said.
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