Having spent 18 seasons in the NBA with 10 different teams, Trevor Ariza had the pleasure of sharing the court with numerous big names in the league. And among all the greats, he admitted that his time with Chris Paul stood out to him the most. Speaking on this period in his NBA career, Ariza revealed the extent to which Paul inspired him, while on the Run Your Race podcast.
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Trevor Ariza had the opportunity to play with Chris Paul during his time with the Houston Rockets. While many argue that Paul’s time with the Texan franchise wasn’t successful, Ariza seems to have a different recollection of it.
“CP [Chris Paul] is like a brother so it’s a different type of push… Me seeing the things that he does, he was huge in like watching the film after the game. So, just getting with him and trying to get on that level with him was something that I picked up from CP. Cause that broke the game down in a completely different way.”
Chris Paul is popularly known as one of the greatest basketball minds to ever be in the NBA. So, it’s no surprise that Ariza was given an all-new perspective on analyzing the game and his matchups.
His intellect was also one of the biggest reasons behind Paul being one of the biggest connecting pieces on the Houston Rockets side. Unfortunately, however, his body always seemed to fail him when it mattered most. And in the end, it is the biggest reason why his time in Houston was marred by failure.
Could the Rockets win it all if Chris Paul was healthy?
Trevor Ariza was part of the 2018 Houston Rockets squad that not only featured Chris Paul but also a prime James Harden, alongside a cast built to support them. With all that quality the team went as far as to finish the season with the best record in the West(65-17).
However, things fell apart in the postseason, as Paul soon suffered a hamstring injury, causing the team to flame out in the Conference Finals, as they lost to the Warriors in seven games.
On an episode of the Tidal League podcast, Ariza claimed that the 2018 Rockets could’ve gone all the way to win an NBA championship had Chris Paul stayed healthy during the playoffs.
“For sure. I mean, yeah… I’m confident that we were going to win if CP was healthy.”
Trevor Ariza says the #Rockets would have knocked off Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and the Warriors in 2018 and gone on to win it all with a healthy Chris Paul.
“For sure. I mean, yeah… I’m confident that we were going to win if CP was healthy.”
Via @tidalleague pic.twitter.com/dQNjyuMmgk
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) June 11, 2024
It is certainly possible that the Houston Rockets could have won it all, had it not been for Paul’s hamstring giving him problems. However, unfortunately for them, things just didn’t pan out that way for the franchise. And today, due to this, all fans, analysts, and players alike can do, is speculate.
