The Los Angeles Clippers managed to steal home court from the Houston Rockets without Chris Paul. They'll hope to have him back as the series heads to L.A. and they look to seize control and punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals.
With plenty of rest and rehab time still available ahead of Game 3, the Clippers are officially calling Paul questionable for Friday.
Paul has missed each of the first two games of the series due to a left hamstring strain he suffered in Game 7 of the team's first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs. Paul fought to play in Game 1 and was considered questionable for Game 2 on Wednesday but ultimately sat out both affairs.
"It's one of those things that you don't want to make it worse than it already is," Paul admitted before being ruled out Wednesday, and it's likely the Clippers will maintain that attitude moving forward.
Paul worked out on Thursday, but head coach Doc Rivers said the team won't know Paul's status until Friday.
The Clippers somewhat surprisingly took Game 1 without their star point guard, with Blake Griffin stepping up in a facilitator role with his third triple-double of the playoffs. Things weren't as steady in a Game 2 loss, with Griffin looking exhausted and Paul's replacement, Austin Rivers, doing things like this:
Griffin's grown a great deal over the years and DeAndre Jordan is a terrific rebounder and solid defender, but Paul is the team's engine and their best two-way player. Getting him back healthy is paramount to the Clippers' chances of making a championship run, and they're likely thrilled to have split a pair without him if it means he'll be in top shape moving forward.
The Point God averaged 19.7 points, a league-high 10.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals during the regular season. He took on more of a scoring role against the Spurs, averaging 22.7 points, 7.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and two steals. As a result of his otherworldly creation for teammates and solid defense, the Clippers were 20.9 points per-100 possessions better with Paul on the floor this year.
That's likely terrifying for the Rockets, who were outscored by 10 points in aggregate over the first two games of the series, unable to take advantage of Paul's absence.
