The 36-year-old last played in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals scoring 37 points with 7 assists to sweep the Denver Nuggets. His performance in that game helped lift the Phoenix Suns to their first Western Conference Finals since the year 2010.
According to Bleacher Report, “Earlier on Monday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski mentioned on Sports Center there’s “optimism” in Phoenix that Paul will return “sooner than later” in this series, potentially by Game 3 in Los Angeles there is optimism they’re going to get him back in the early part of this series,” Wojnarowski said.
Clippers without their superstar as well
The Clippers will also be without a star player as superstar forward Kawhi Leonard will be out for Game 2 tonight with a knee injury. Leonard last played in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz and scored 31 points with 7 rebounds in the Clippers’ 118 to 104 win. While it is impossible to compare the absence of the two stars, their presence will definitely be heavily missed in the starting line-ups for Game 2.
The Suns had a pretty smooth Game 1 grabbing the win easily even without future hall of fame point guard Chris Paul. Devin Booker went off posting his first career triple-double and the first Suns’ playoff triple-double since legendary Suns’ point guard Steve Nash.
On the Clippers’ side of things Paul George who as of late has been getting hounded by people around the league as well as fans for his “poor playoff play” had a great game trying to carry the Clippers’ role players who did not show up to a road win.
George’s efforts were good but it just was not enough to keep the Phoenix Suns at bay and the Clippers find themselves down in a playoff series once again.