Eric Gordon says Rockets would have beat Warriors in 2018 if Chris Paul didn’t get injured

Philadelphia 76ers guard Eric Gordon holds the belief that if Chris Paul didn’t go down with a hamstring injury in the 2018 Western Conference Finals, the Houston Rockets would have beaten the Golden State Warriors and then eliminated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals to win the title.

“Yeah no, I truly believe if CP didn’t get injured we would have won that year, I really do,” Gordon said.

One can see where Gordon is coming from when looking back at how the Rockets fared in the 2018 NBA Playoffs before Paul pulled his hamstring. Houston cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, as the team sent home both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz in five games.

Plus, against the star-studded Warriors — who were led by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — the Rockets held a 3-2 series lead through five games. But Paul injured his hamstring in Houston’s Game 5 victory and thus had to sit out the final two contests of the best-of-seven series.

Sans Paul on the floor, Houston got blown out in Game 6 and then lost Game 7 by just nine points. After the Warriors eliminated the Rockets, Golden State then swept the Cavaliers in the championship series.

If it weren’t for an abysmal 3-point shooting performance in the deciding Game 7, perhaps the Rockets still would have been able to win the series even with Paul sidelined. After all, Houston shot just 7-of-44 from deep as a team, which equates to a 15.9 percent clip.

Also, perhaps the Rockets’ two best 3-point shooters at the time in Gordon and James Harden shot a combined 4-of-25 from 3-point range.

While Gordon came up short of winning a title in 2018, he seemingly has a puncher’s chance to finally capture an NBA title with his new team in the 76ers next season. The 76ers may not stand out as the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference, but Philadelphia has a star trio of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George and a solid supporting cast to complement them with Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Reggie Jackson.