In the last two years, the Rockets have been eliminated from the playoffs by a team playing without their best player in the deciding game. The Warriors beat the Rockets without Steph Curry two years ago (though just about any team could have beaten that awful Rockets squad), and last year’s Game 6 debacle featured a Kawhi-less Spurs team.
The Knicks were missing both Kristaps Porzingis and Enes Kanter. As if on cue, the Rockets came out flat and timid. For all the talk that Chris Paul is the leader the Rockets needed and that his job was to prevent Game 6 from happening ever again, he failed at that job.