Watch Game 2 between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers live on Sky Sports Arena at 3am on Wednesday
Monday 24 May 2021 18:07, UK
Chris Paul's lack of an NBA winner's medal is always levelled at him but if he doesn't get one this year, it won't be due to a lack of fight.
The All-Star point guard has shouldered the burden of carrying his young Phoenix Suns team through the season to the second seed in the Western Conference, but he lost use of one of those shoulders in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The injury happened early in the second quarter when he bumped into team-mate Cameron Johnson following LeBron James' tip-in basket. He fell to the floor, appeared to be in substantial pain and was holding his right shoulder.
Worries in the Phoenix Suns Arena mounted, as they always do when one of the league's stars goes down.
Bear in mind, this is also a 36-year-old we are talking about. Injury has robbed him of the chance of potential playoff glory before, notably with the Houston Rockets in 2018 when - fully manned with Paul running the point - they looked to have the match of, arguably, the very best iteration of the Golden State Warriors dynasty.
Things got tense, and not for the last time in the evening. Paul was down on the floor for a few minutes, surrounded by players from both teams. The 11-time All-Star eventually got up and slowly walked to the locker room with a towel over his head. The Suns called the injury a right shoulder contusion.
The point guard returned - to huge roars from the crowd - for the end of the second quarter and part of the third but didn't look confident with his right arm. He dribbled mostly with his left hand and lost the ball multiple times when dribbling with his right.
He soldiered on and although he was grimacing in pain, and although he left the court again in the third quarter to have the shoulder worked on, his contribution proved pivotal as the Suns took an 81-68 advantage into the final stanza and then pushed on for a victory which blows the series wide open.
The big question after the game though, was will CP3 take part in the rest of the series, starting with Game 2 late on Tuesday night?
The man himself left reporters in no doubt as to the answer.
"Absolutely," was his verdict. He went on to describe how the injury felt upon impact and mentioned a video where Kobe Bryant discussed the impact of injuries occurring prior to Sunday night's clash.
"I just remember I felt 'Uhh!' I heard like a crack, or whatever," Paul said. "In the thing Kobe says, like, 'Injuries, sometimes you just can't control them.
"So, that was all that was going through my mind after the play I got hit."
Coach Monty Williams said he was moved by what he witnessed from his team captain out on the floor.
"I talked to him briefly just now and his words to me was he was OK and he would be OK moving forward," Suns head coach Monty Williams said after the game. "He was pretty sore when he came back, but him playing today gave us a lot of juice, a lot of energy. It was inspirational to watch him out there, give it his all on both sides of the floor.
"Any time a guy lays it on the line physically like that after taking that kind of hit, it gives you juice. Then you think about every experience Chris has had, how many games he's played, everything he has accomplished.
"Nobody would've faulted him for not coming back, but when he did come back, we saw the emotion on his face and I thought that drove our guys. I got emotional just watching him battle tonight."
Judging by the words from both player and coach, injury lingering or not, Paul will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder (contusion or not) with each of his Suns team-mates this coming Tuesday night.
