Chris Paul pounded the ball down demonstratively on Stephen Curry’s home court in sheer delight.
And maybe he sent a little message: These Rockets are for real and very much remain in the championship chase.
“A whole lot of treatment,” Paul said. “It’s as good as it’s going to be right now.”
Curry couldn’t get off a final attempt before the buzzer.
Game 5 is Thursday night at Houston. Golden State, which went a record 16-1 on the way to last year’s title, will play its longest playoff round after closing out its first two series in five games.
As you’d imagine, Pugh isn’t happy with any label that suggests he’s a bad risk because he’s injury prone. During an appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7, Pugh said people are “not doing their diligence” if they label him that way and explained what led to the back injury that kept him out of the lineup for the Giants’ final eight games last year.
“We were struggling up front and they moved me to a position I hadn’t played in two years,” Pugh said. “I’m out there playing right tackle and then they were like, ‘we need you to play left guard’ and then next week it’s back to right tackle. That’s not good for your body. You can’t get used to it that fast and there was some anxiety because I hadn’t played the position in two years, going to right tackle. … I just put one on the back for the team, no pun intended, and it ended up not helping me too much. It would have been a totally different story this past year if I wasn’t in that situation.”