The Los Angeles Clippers, once again, are in a heartbroken place. The Chris Paul-led outfit, already working without the injured Blake Griffin for what should be the rest of the playoffs, was knocked an inch away from the end of its postseason life on Tuesday night with a deadening Game 5 loss to the Utah Jazz.

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The defeat gave Utah a 3-2 series lead heading into Thursday’s Game 6 in Salt Lake City. The Clippers will now play for their season in Game 6, with the hopes of returning to Los Angeles to face the Jazz in a winner-take-all Game 7.

It is beyond assumption that while the Clippers are playing this one game at a time — with perhaps just one game left, they’ll have to — the team assuredly wants the chance to contest a Game 7 at StaplesCenter. Maybe this is why Paul, in the minutes after showering in the wake of the Game 5 loss, wasn’t pleased when asked by a reporter to re-confirm this on the record.

The question in question comes at the five-minute mark of the clip below:

The aside from Paul that the (as-yet unidentified) reporter in question has “been doing this long enough” suggests that the media member (first in line at the podium queue, no less) is a veteran of the scene, which makes both the non-question and Paul’s distaste for it far less surprising. If not entirely justifiable.

It wasn’t so much a question as an attempt to either ingratiate with Paul and the Clippers, or to steer Paul into the sort of rah-rah pablum with which sports columns used to be filled. Chewable stuff about how the Clippers are only packing one set of clothes to go to Salt Lake City (good thing, they’re only scheduled for one game in the city, win or lose) and a bit more bluster before diving in to a sign-off — something about seeing everyone back at Staples for Game 7 on Sunday.

In other words, the reporter wanted Paul to write his column for him. Paul, with his reaction, instead wrote this post for us. We’ve said from Day 1 of the 2017 NBA playoffs that Chris Paul has been this postseason’s clear MVP.

Unlike the understanding, nuance-rich receiving the NBA world at large gave both Russell Westbrook and Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel following their uneasy back-and_forth over the weekend, the reaction fell squarely on the star’s side, as it often does, starting with a pair that know the business rather well:

Let’s be clear, in ways that aren’t blithely defending a media brother or sister regardless of their role in a star-crossed interaction: this wasn’t an offensive or outrageous “question” in the slightest. It was a silly sports line, not exactly ideal for a news conference … but then again, Chris Paul didn’t exactly call for the guy’s job, did he? CP3 had no interest in playing along in this situation, and given a rather bland lead-in “question,” who would?

The reporter’s question may have been a little silly and not entirely an inquiry in technical terms, but it was certainly a boilerplate opening line that Paul has heard time after time in his 12-year (!) NBA career, one he usually answers (if not cheerily) by rote. Probably because CP3, one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, has yet to play in the third round of the playoffs. He’ll take a Game 7, if you’re offering.

By 2017, after 12 years and at age 32 on May 6, Paul doesn’t exactly want to perk up in time for a Vince Lombardi speech. Certainly not in the minutes after his team’s 87th game in a long season, one that feels as if it started all the way back in December 2011, when Paul was dealt to Los Angeles with such promise.

Paul has only played past his birthday four times since being drafted into this league back in 2005, and after dropping 28 points and nine assists in what could be his penultimate game in L.A., the Clippers’ remaining franchise player was in no mood to confirm the obvious. We’ve been here long enough to expect as much from him.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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