The verdict is in on Chris Paul, who was hurting a whole lot at the end of the Rockets’ Game 5 win: He’s out for Saturday.

Chris Paul is, let’s say, a competitive person, probably to an unpleasant degree. He is also among the all-time greats at his position and finally, in his 13th season, making a deep run into the postseason. And he is also someone who, in the final minute of a conference finals Game 5, with a mere four-point lead over…

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Last night, the Houston Rockets blew past the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals by getting a little more lively on offense and moving the ball. That is cool and good for them, but let’s be honest: the best thing about the game was Chris Paul’s dribbling.

Here is a thing that happens way too often in the NBA: Two teams with stars at the same position face each other and, instead of the cool stars checking each other, so that they are competing directly at both ends of the floor, the coaches assign various other designated defenders to do the job of getting crossed-over…

The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors wrapped up their five-game eliminations of, respectively, the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans last night. Like the series they ended, neither game was particularly closely contested; both losing teams did just enough to preserve their dignity and no more. That’s more…

Chris Paul is advancing beyond the second round for the first time in his NBA career, and he did so by putting the Rockets on his back for their 112-102 Game 5 win against the Jazz. Paul got a new playoff high of 41 points, with 10 assists, seven boards, and no turnovers. And after Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell, who…

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Even though Austin Rivers didn’t play against the Rockets earlier this week, his very presence helped spark the Rockets’ furtive voyage to the Clippers locker room to cause a commotion and not actually fight. This is because, as Bill Simmons said on Zach Lowe’s podcast, Rivers would not stop talking shit to the…

Per Adrian Wojnarowski, Houston’s Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green will be the only players getting discipline from the NBA after the Rockets’ reported invasion-by-secret-passage of the Clippers’ locker room following their loss in L.A. on Monday night. Chris Paul and James Harden, despite reportedly being a part of the…

Now that the Houston Rockets have Chris Paul leading their offense, they’ve become a much more formidable team. They’ve also taken on the personality of their new superstar, which is to say, despite cementing themselves as the most credible Western Conference threat the Warriors have seen in years (which is to say, a…

Beef! We’ve got beef! Major NBA beef. Sound the beef siren!

The relationship between players and referees has been something of a hot-button issue in the NBA recently. After receiving his 11th technical of the season, Warriors forward Draymond Green claimed that players are being punished by referees with personal grudges, and that the league should consider replacing all of…

As the Oklahoma City Thunder’s continued stay in the toilet has reminded NBA fans, the winning and losing of basketball games is about more than assembling the maximum possible amount of sheer talent. The Thunder were projected to be juggernauts in the Western Conference despite a hastily assembled and moderately…

Ever see a team score 142 points in a game in which they stopped really trying after halftime? Rockets over Suns was a good, old-fashioned blowout, notable and enjoyable for the sheer ludicrousness of the thing.

Tim McMahon of ESPN is reporting that Chris Paul will miss the next two to four weeks while recovering from a bruised left knee. Houston’s schedule over the next two weeks goes Mavericks, Grizzlies, 76ers, Hornets, Grizzlies, 76ers, Knicks, and Hawks, so they’ll be fine. More importantly, what’s with all these…

Blathering goofus Kevin McHale waded back into the James Harden leadership beef last night, using a NBA on TNT segment to once again opine on the leadership qualities of his former star player. Watch the video below and see if you can spot the exact moment when McHale should’ve shut the hell up.

This one started with Kevin McHale, who coached James Harden for three-plus seasons in Houston, lightly but directly criticizing Harden’s capacity as a team leader, during an NBA TV panel discussion this week:

It’s hard not to feel bad for Andre Roberson, a professional NBA player with a shot so bad that opponents will openly laugh at him during a playoff game.

In broad terms, the Chris Paul Problem—there is one!—is as follows: Pretty much everybody agrees that Paul is, and has been for the past decade, one of the NBA’s best players. He made nine straight All-Star games from 2008 to 2016; he has made eight All-NBA teams and nine All-Defense teams; he is the league’s active…