NBA PLAYOFFS
Chris Paul’s injury update: Will he be back for game 4 against the Nuggets?
The Suns bounced back from their previous two defeats to the Nuggets and won their first game of the series at Footprint Center. Will Chris Paul play Game 4?
The Nuggets punched twice but the Suns stood up to keep fighting, as Monty Williams’ side won Game 3 of their NBA second-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.
After clearly losing the first clash to Denver 107-125, Kevin Durant & co. were expected to deliver a better performance after that, but the Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, recorded their second win over the Suns at Ball Center (87-97).
Tuesday night’s game was a bitter pill to swallow for Williams’ men, as they were already 2-0 down, but also lost one of their key players in Chris Paul, who got injured.
The guard, who turned 38 on Saturday, suffered a left groin strain, after jumping for an offensive rebound, immediately grabbing at his left leg on landing. He was forced to exit the game with time ticking down in the third quarter.
However, the Suns took full advantage of going back to Arizona for Game 3 and beat the Nuggets without Paul thanks to an impressive performance from Durant and Devin Booker, with 39 and 47 points, respectively.
Will Chris Paul play in Game 4?
That first victory meant a lot for the Suns, as they proved they can defeat the Nuggets even without such an important player as Paul, even if that means that KD and Booker need to be at their very best.
Williams, though, knows that Paul is a crucial piece in his system and his injury will make life way harder for the Suns, but they will have to be ready for such a circumstance, as the player won’t be available for Game 4, the Suns informed.
“Further evaluation has confirmed that Chris Paul has sustained a left groin strain. He is considered day to day”, the franchise informed.
Meanwhile, Monty Williams said that although Paul had some days to recover, the situation hasn’t changed.
“He did a little bit on the floor today, but nothing has changed from the initial report”, he said after Saturday’s practice.
“He did get up a few shots, but we didn’t do much today,” he added.
Paul has averaged 12.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 41.8% from the field through his first seven matches of the playoffs.