The Houston Rockets are only one victory ahead of the Conference Finals after their victory over Utah Jazz in their fourth game. Chris Paul doesn’t want to celebrate this too early, though.
The Point Guard, who turned 33 on Sunday and led his team to victory with 27 points, has never reached the Conference Finals in his career. That’s why he didn’t want to get excited too soon. “I’ve seen a 3-1 lead before, and everything fell apart pretty quickly,” Paul said right after the game at TNT.
He was referring to the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals, when Paul and the L.A. Clippers lost to his current team from Houston after a 3-1 lead. This series left its mark on the team, as Luc Mbah a Moute, who signed with the Clippers in 2015 and is now playing for the Rockets, confirmed on USA Today.
“When I joined the team, there was still talk about this series,” says Mbah a Moute. “It was still a vivid memory for everyone. If you work so hard and then lose, you take it to heart. This came up again and again during the season, from Chris, Blake (Griffin), Jamal (Crawford) and others.”
The Rockets will receive the Jazz for Game 5 of the series in their own hall during the night on Wednesday and can decide the series. Until then Paul didn’t want to celebrate yet, just his birthday: “I just want to go home and spend time with my family. But that was a good birthday present today. I’ll take that with me,” said Paul.