UPDATE: The LA Clippers will be without Chris Paul Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets in Game 2. Paul’s strained left hamstring is still bothering him.
Doc Rivers said Chris Paul (hamstring) won't play tonight
— Los Angeles Clippers (@LAClippers) May 7, 2015
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According to LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, the playing status of starting point guard Chris Paul for Wednesday night’s Game 2 in Houston remains up in the air.
Doc said his gut says CP is 50-50 to play in Game 2
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) May 5, 2015
The Clips stole Game 1 in the Rockets’ house behind a huge Blake Griffin performance, and remain confident.
Oddly and hilariously, the most outwardly self-assured Clipper appears to be backup Austin Rivers.
Austin Rivers last night on Chris Paul: “I can’t run the same sets he does and there are sets that I run that he can’t run.”
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) May 5, 2015
J.J. Redick on Austin Rivers’ confidence: “I don’t know how to put this without using profanity but you have to be a mother——, you know?
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) May 5, 2015
Per the AP:
Paul missed Game 1 against the Rockets with a left hamstring that was strained in the Clippers’ stirring Game 7 victory over San Antonio. The Clippers surprised many by opening the semifinals with a victory in Houston, but Rivers said that would not affect the timeline for Paul’s return. […] “It’s a hard injury for your trainer because he at some point is going to give you the thumbs up and he’ll be sweating that whole night,” Rivers said. “That’s an injury you just don’t know. … You’ve got to trust your player, which is the worst guy to trust in this situation. At some point he’s going to play and we’re going to be sweating because we’re going to not know until he gets out there.”
With one road win already in hand, some think it would be easier for Rivers to rest Paul in Game 2 and give him even more time to recover. But the Clippers lost two home games to the Spurs in the first round, and three of the four Game 1s played in the second round have been won by the road teams — Washington won in Atlanta — so Rivers knows nothing is guaranteed when their series shifts to Los Angeles.
“I hope it doesn’t make them let their guard down,” Rivers said. “It just tells you you won a game. We won a game without Chris and that’s great. But we just won one game.”
