There are those atavistic few who believe an athlete’s tears are a sign of weakness. But for many they’re a sign of just how much that athlete cares about the game they hold so dear. That’s why when Chris Paul cried after the Los Angeles Clippers’ blew a late lead in a watershed Game 5 that would have given them a 3-2 advantage in their Western Conference Semifinal series against the Thunder, it engendered in us the empathy and respect of the latter reaction. Paul, for his part, is turning it into fuel for the upcoming 2014-15 season.

Paul tells the Los Angeles Times‘ Ben Bolch, he’s not likely to forget that seven-point margin he played a large role in squandering during the final minute of Game 5:

It was all part of the Clippers’ blowing a seven-point lead in the final 49.2 seconds of Game 5 that sent the Clippers back to Staples Center facing an elimination game that they lost to end their season. Paul was so devastated he cried in the locker room afterward. Four months later, the emotional fallout lingers. “It would be lying to you to say I’d forgotten about it,” Paul said during a break on set. “It’s one of those things that I don’t want to forget, to tell you the truth. I think for me, I feel like you have to remember things like that and therefore you don’t want that feeling again. I know I don’t.”

While for some this might seem like the clichéd trope of an athlete’s puff piece following a major moment of sorrow, we’re not sure it’s fair to put this particular athlete in that category.

Paul has always seemed like a study in the contrasts. On the court, he’s a ferocious competitor, sometimes rubbing players the wrong way while doing anything he can to gain an advantage. Off the court, he’s a successful business man appearing in ads and national campaigns that speak to his emphasis on family and giving back to his community.

Like the polarized reactions to the triggered tear ducts of a disappointed athlete, we think it’s Paul drive to win on the court that will win out here and force him to compartmentalize last season’s playoff heartbreak into an incentive when the Clippers tip off the new season. It’s either that, or it’ll crush him under the weight of wasted opportunities and lost promise.

“For me, that’s one thing that I’ve always been: I’m self-motivated,” Paul tells Bolch. “It doesn’t matter how successful my season was or wasn’t, I’m always going to strive to be better and push myself. This summer was all about getting better and working on weaknesses.”

Tired refrain, maybe, but we won’t tire of watching CP3 try and exorcise his nightmare of playoff past.

(Los Angeles Times)

How will the Clipper finish this upcoming season?

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