Chris Paul receives standing ovation in return to Houston against Rockets
Chris Paul’s exit from the Houston Rockets didn’t end on the best of terms, but the city of Houston still seems to quite like the veteran point guard.
The Toyota Center crowd gave Paul a standing ovation during the first quarter of Paul’s first game against the Rockets since the team traded him to the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Rockets also had a lovely tribute video ready to go for the player.
The return didn’t end well for Paul, though, with the Thunder falling 116-112 and Paul struggling to 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, with four assists and six turnovers.
He at least managed to get a legitimately good line in after the game.
Russell Westbrook enters the Thunder locker room and teammates joke he entered the wrong locker room. Chris Paul joked: “The Clippers tried to suspend me for this.” Paul joked, “Come on man, you gotta get out of here.”
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) October 29, 2019
Paul spent two seasons with the Rockets, and those two seasons happened to coincide with two of the best campaigns for the franchise in recent history.
The team was the only squad to ever seriously put a healthy Golden State Warriors team on the ropes with Kevin Durant onboard, taking a 3-2 lead in the 2018 Western Conference finals. Unfortunately, Paul missed the final two games of the series with a hamstring injury and the team lost in seven games.
Paul ended up averaging 17.1 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game in his time with the Rockets, while providing his signature defense. He never got that ring in Houston, but clearly that hasn’t stopped him from still being popular.
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