Chris Paul has been on a mission since the start of the season. He’s one of the greatest point guards to ever do it and felt slept on and disrespected by the media, the Houston Rockets, and the fans. Now, he’s leading the Oklahoma City Thunder like Russell Westbrook never did.
The Houston Rockets gave multiple picks away to get rid of Chris Paul and trade him for Russell Westbrook. CP3 still clearly holds a grudge about it and made sure to turn the Thunder into a legit contender.
Oklahoma City was given a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs this season. There were even serious doubts about whether he was going to suit up for a team that was supposed to rebuild right away. Now, they’re one game away from knocking down the very same team that traded him away.
Moreover, by forcing a Game 7 vs. the Houston Rockets, Chris Paul has now led the Oklahoma City Thunder further than Russell Westbrook ever did without Kevin Durant. Crazy as it may seem, they never even won three games and were knocked out in the first round for three straight seasons.
The Rockets got the best of them in 2017 with a 4-1 series win. Then, the fell 2-4 to the Utah Jazz in 2018. Last year, Damian Lillard sent them home on that crazy game-winner to lead them to a 4-1 series win.
That means that Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to just 1 more playoff win (4-12 record) in three years than Chris Paul in just one season running the offense.
This is by no means hating or criticism towards Westbrook, which I believe is one of the best players in the league. We just want to put into context how great and impactful and how much of a leader Chris Paul is. Never sleep on the Point God.
