West Conf. Finals - Game 6: Houston Rockets 86-115 Golden State Warriors - 5 Talking Points

Chris Paul's absence was quite evident

The Rockets advised CP3 to not travel to Oakland but not only did he travel but he was also in uniform on the bench.

The Rockets had mucked the series up by slowing the pace down and running their isolation-heavy offense through their All-Star caliber backcourt of James Harden and Chris Paul.

So everybody can praise Eric Gordon all they want but he is not Chris Paul. Missing CP3 means there isn't a primary ball handler with the bench, which is only two players (Gerald Green and Luc Mbah A Moute) anyway since Gordon had started the game.

In their previous 2 wins, the Rockets committed 10 turnovers each time which is far below the league average and even their average in these Playoffs. But in Game 6, they turned it over a series-high 21 times. That doesn't happen if CP3 is there.

Moreover, unlike Games 4 & 5, when Harden started to disappear in the second half, there was no Paul to carry the load.