Suns guard Chris Paul told reporters after Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday night that he has no plans to retire.
“You play long enough and you don’t win, every time you lose, they’re going to say it was your best chance. But I think for me, us, it’s we’ll be right back next year. I’ll tell you that much. I’m not retiring tomorrow, thank God. Hopefully, I’m healthy coming back. But I’m going to keep playing,” Paul said in the postgame press conference.
Paul, 37, averaged 23.5 points per game in the first two games of the series. However, as the Suns lost four of their final five games to the Mavericks, Paul averaged just 9.4 points per game and turned the ball over 3.6 times per game. On Sunday, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that Paul suffered a left quad injury that limited his mobility late in the series.
In terms of what went wrong in Game 7, where the Suns were listless from the start in an embarrassing home blowout, Paul took the brunt of the blame.
“I think we just came out and didn’t have enough. I think [Monty Williams] said that’s on him, but I think that’s on me, as the point guard, the leader of the team to come out and make sure you’re getting the right shots and all that.”
At halftime, the Suns trailed by 30, the largest halftime deficit in Game 7 history. The Suns eventually fell short, 123–90.
The Mavericks will now face the Warriors in the next round. The Western Conference Finals begin Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET on TNT.