Sam Amick | USA TODAY

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HOUSTON – When Chris Paul strolled down the hallway with his Houston Rockets teammates inside the team’s practice facility on Friday morning, you never would have known that he’s in a world of hoops hurt.

There was no noticeable limp from the right hamstring injury that took him out of the Rockets’ Game 5 win against Golden State the night before and might have ended his season, nor was there any sign of self-pity. Paul joked and laughed as he walked alongside Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, and it just didn’t reconcile with the reality he now faces.

At 33 years old, and after 13 seasons of Hall of Fame caliber play that have been marred by his inability to reach the Western Conference finals stage, Paul is being punished by the basketball gods again. Not that anyone could tell.

Some eight hours before, fellow Rockets star James Harden had stayed late at the Paul family household “just laughing and talking about life,” as Harden would later share. The MRI and the treatment would come later, followed by the announcement that Paul was out for Game 6 at Oracle Arena on Saturday night. A possible Game 7 in Houston on Monday is in serious peril too.

“We don’t want to just be down,” Harden explained to the assembled media. “We don’t want (Paul) to come and be pouting around. We want to keep our same swag and positive energy. We have to feed off of him as well. Be happy and be ready. Get this thing right and get this thing going.”

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The mood matters in these kinds of sports moments, and so the Rockets will set up their psyche in a way that allows for the incredible. But are they delusional to think they can derail the Warriors’ dynasty without Paul? Not as much as you might think.

Back in October, right after Houston downed Golden State on opening night despite Paul playing 33 minutes on a bum knee that would sideline him for the next 14 games, the Rockets went 10-4 without their nine-time All-Star on the floor. That was the beginning of Harden’s MVP candidacy, when he played in cheat-mode almost every time out while averaging 31 points, 10.2 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in those games without Paul.

Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, and Clint Capela played a high level alongside Harden, with coach Mike D’Antoni finding the right role players to fill in around the edges. The Rockets’ defense during that span (102.3 defensive rating) was even better comparable to what it would be once he came back (103.8). The chemistry formed quickly when Paul returned, and then they were off and running.

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But playoff basketball presents a different kind of task, and Harden has seen in this series how hard it is to be a prolific scorer and a capable defender. On one end, he’s giving his all as part of a Rockets defense that has short-circuited the Warriors’ free-flowing offense. On the other, where Harden has missed 36 of 44 three-pointers in the past four games while averaging 24 points, 5.5 rebounds and five assists, his offensive impact hasn't been transcendent.

All of which sets the stage for an unenviable challenge in Game 6.

When Paul and Harden decided to join forces last June, it was all with the hope of avoiding this very scenario. Paul wanted the ball in his hands less after all those years as the primary playmaker for the Clippers, and Harden was coming off a playoff collapse in the second round against San Antonio that had everything to do with his empty gas tank. They did this to help each other, yet basketball fate jumped the lane and stole that well-intended pass.

“I can only imagine what (Paul) is feeling right now,” D’Antoni said. “But he’ll bounce back from this and we’ll get him back. Hopefully the team morale rallies around where we’ll win one of for him and get him back, and get him where he wants to go (in the Finals) – where a lot of people want to go, not just him. It’s part of the game. We have to deal with it.”

Bad luck be darned, they’ll do it with a smile.

“We’re not here to be down, moping around and sad,” Harden said. “(This is an) opportunity a lot of people never have had. It’s our job to go out there and have fun with it.”