Chris Paul playing Wednesday despite knee bruise

Despite misfortune after misfortune on the injury front, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been smiled upon by the basketball (or Based) gods of late.

To wit: the New Orleans Pelicans have been terribly banged up, the Phoenix Suns have all but folded in the Western Conference playoff race, Russell Westbrook has turned into a basketball cyborg and now the Thunder are running into a shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers team.

What looked like an arduous home game has become eminently more winnable, with the Clippers missing Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford. They were nearly without superstar Chris Paul, too.

Paul will start despite a bruised left kneecap, an issue that had the team calling him a game-time decision on Tuesday. Paul banged his knee Sunday and underwent an X-ray, which came back negative, and was able to play Monday.

Paul didn't look particularly like himself, scoring two points in 30 minutes, though he added 15 assists, the 12th time in 13 games he's recorded double-digit assists.

"I'm all right," Paul said. "I'll be in there getting treatment. We'll be ready to go."

The Clippers play against West playoff teams again Friday and Sunday, so with a shorthanded group it may make sense at some point to sit Paul for a game, taking a loss in the process but ensuring he's at 100 percent down the stretch. With one of the easiest schedules down the stretch, the Clippers would still be in good shape to push for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

In 64 games, Paul is averaging 18.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and a league-high 10.2 assists. Because this season has been insane, Paul may only be fourth or fifth on MVP ballots despite that stat line.