Chris Paul Injury Update: L.A. Clippers Star Suffers Broken Hand [Breaking]
A Chris Paul injury update has come in and the news is terrible for the L.A. Clippers. The injury Paul has suffered is being called a fractured bone in his right hand, suffered in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night, April 25. The injury has just been reported from the sidelines as the Blazers and Clippers play out Game 4 of the series.
The exact injury is being called a “fractured third metacarpal in his right hand.” They have clarified that the injury is basically a broken hand and that Paul wouldn’t return to the floor in Game 4. This Chris Paul injury should affect whether he can return to play in the rest of the NBA Playoffs as well. That’s bad news for the Clippers and the NBA, as it has also been revealed that Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors could miss two weeks with an injury.
It all took place midway through the third quarter, as Paul made a defensive play on a Blazers player driving to the hoop. It appeared that Paul jammed his hand on the play and then exacerbated the injury while making a pass on the other end of the floor. Paul checked himself out of the game immediately, had the trainer take a look at his hand, and then proceeded to head to the locker room. On his way off the court, Paul could be seen kicking towels out of frustration.
In Game 4, the Blazers held a 47-43 lead at halftime, but the Clippers were fighting back in a big way during the third quarter. The Clippers took a huge hit when the Paul injury happened, and the team had a very difficult time finding momentum in the fourth quarter. Hot shooting from the Blazers didn’t help the situation either, as the home team won Game 4 to even the series. The teams will now head back to Los Angeles with the series tied 2-2.
Paul finished the game with just about 25 minutes of action. He was 7-of-14 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line for 16 points. Paul also had four assists and three steals, showing that he was likely to finish the game with good stats once again. Through the first three games of the Clippers vs. Blazers series, Paul had averaged 28.2 points, 8.9 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. Those are numbers that would be extremely difficult for Clippers coach Doc Rivers to replace if Paul is sidelined for any length of time.
An unrelated facet of the Chris Paul injury was that Blake Griffin also suffered a leg injury in the second half. This forced him to go to the locker room as well, with little information revealed about what was going on with him. The leg was bothering Griffin enough that he did not return to the court once it occurred, possibly setting up even worse news for Clippers fans when the team returns to Staples Center. Losing Griffin and Paul in the same game presented the rest of the roster with a very difficult task when it came to finishing off Game 4.
[Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images]
