The Los Angeles Clippers are holding their breath, sort of.
Chris Paul left late in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Clippers’ Tuesday night victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder with a sprained right thumb. He did not return, and though X-rays came back negative, the team is awaiting further news, per ESPN.com’s Andrew Han:
Clippers guard Chris Paul sprained his left thumb with 3:04 left in the second quarter of Monday night’s 120-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder and was ruled out for the rest of the game.
X-rays on the thumb were negative, but further tests need to be done to determine the extent of the injury.
“We don’t know yet,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “The original X-ray was negative on his left thumb. They’re going to do an MRI tomorrow, so we’ll know more. I didn’t see [what happened]. I guess they said [Russell] Westbrook came down on [Paul’s thumb]. But whenever you see a guard pull their hand out, you pretty much know what just happened.”
Paul has already missed some time this season with hamstring injuries and seems fixing to miss more. As J.J. Redick acknowledged, per Han, Paul’s failure to return was ominous, because he’s the type of player to labor through pain.
Injuries are obviously never ideal, but the Clippers are in a precarious situation. Blake Griffin hasn’t played since Dec. 18 after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, and both Los Angeles’ offense and defense crater without Paul in the game, according to NBA.com.
Two of the Clippers’ next three tilts come against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, so they have some wiggle room to let Paul rest. But they play the streaking Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 23 and will face the Golden State Warriors twice through Feb. 2. If the Clippers are without Paul even for a few nights, they stand to lose ground in the playoff race. They are already three games behind the third-place Houston Rockets and hold just a two-game lead over the fifth-place Memphis Grizzlies.
