The History Of Chris Paul’s Playoff Bad Beats

Future first-ballot Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul has had a fantastic career. He has the third-most assists in NBA history, and he is just one of seven players with more than 10,000 assists in a career. Paul is a 12-time NBA All-Star that is one of the best guards of his generation, but his postseason problems have led to a lot of ridicule. CP3 has continually come up short in the playoffs, and he has only made it past the second round of the playoffs twice in his long career. The Phoenix Suns were the favorites to win the NBA championship going into the postseason, but CP3’s team had another postseason collapse. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of his other playoff letdowns.

Worst Chris Paul Playoff Losses

Los Angeles Clippers Blow 3-1 Series Lead to the Houston Rockets in 2015

The Los Angeles Clippers looked set to make their first appearance in the conference finals in franchise history back in 2015. They had a 3-1 series lead on the Houston Rockets and won Game 3 and Game 4 by a combined 58 points. However, the Rockets dominated the next three games of the series, sending the Clippers crashing out.

Paul is a little unfairly maligned for this series loss. He had at least 10 assists in each of the last four games, and he shot 44% or better from the floor in each of those games. It was a rough loss for the Clippers, but Paul is not the person to blame.

Utah Jazz Beat Los Angeles Clippers by 13 Points in Game 7 During the 2017 NBA Playoffs

This was CP3’s one truly bad Game 7 performance prior to what we saw against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night. Chris Paul was rock solid for most of the series against Utah, but he went 6-19 from the floor and 1-7 from beyond the arc in Game 7 against the Jazz. That ended up being Paul’s last game with the Clippers too, as he joined the Houston Rockets the following season.

Houston Rockets Fall to the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Western Conference Finals

It looked like Chris Paul would make his first NBA Finals appearance alongside James Harden in 2018. Houston took a 3-2 series lead against Golden State, but Paul was injured and missed the last two games of the series. Golden State went on to win the series and then swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals to claim their third NBA title in the past four seasons.

Phoenix Suns Blow a 2-0 lead to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals

The Suns were hoping to win their first NBA title in franchise history last year, and they got off to a great start with two double-digit wins over the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Phoenix failed to win another game in the series as Giannis Antetokounmpo took over. Paul only played poorly in Game 4, making over 50% of his field goals with at least 19 points in the other games.

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