Over his six-year New Orleans Hornets tenure, five of the times they finished exactly No. Over Paul’s 15 seasons, 10 times has his team been in the top-10 in clutch net rating. By the numbers 10Ĭonsistent is the key word. “Over the course of his career, his teams have been consistently the best crunch time teams in the NBA, or among the very best,” Lowe said. The net rating is 30.2, which tops the league by about eight points.ĮSPN’s Zach Lowe and Royce Young addressed this same topic - and, specifically, Paul’s history of leading teams that win in clutch moments - on Lowe’s podcast released Thursday. The offensive rating of 124.0 leads the league, and the defensive rating of 93.8 is second to the Milwaukee Bucks. Over the last five minutes in games with a point differential of five points or fewer, the Thunder are 29-13. “Chris’ intelligence, his smarts, his understanding, his experience, I think always in those situations keeps the group calm,” Donovan said. While he complimented the entire three-guard lineup that includes Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams, the answer started with and eventually came back around to point guard Chris Paul. All rights reserved.Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan was asked about the crunch time success of his team this season during a Zoom call with media Wednesday. ![]() Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ![]() ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. But a lot is on all of our plates, and that's everybody throughout the playoffs right now." Get back home, protect our home court and go from there. Embrace the challenge, embrace the opportunity that we have right now, even down 0-2. "A lot comes with this, so you just have to embrace it. "I mean, the playoffs is a lot," Booker said. If necessary, Booker welcomes putting more on his shoulders. "He was probably more tired than he would admit, but with Chris off the floor, it puts a lot of pressure on him. However, Williams expressed concern with asking any more of Booker, who has averaged 35.4 points and 6.6 assists in 42.9 minutes in the playoffs. If Paul is unable to play, Booker will likely handle some of the point guard responsibilities. Cameron Payne, the Suns' backup point guard, scored two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 17 minutes, during which Phoenix was outscored by 16 points. Denver outscored Phoenix by 13 the remainder of the game. The Suns, who lost consecutive games with Kevin Durant (24 points, 10-of-27 shooting) in uniform for the first time, led by three points when Paul exited. He has the Suns' best plus-minus in the playoffs, as Phoenix has outscored opponents by 39 points over seven games with Paul on the floor. Paul is averaging 12.4 points and 7.4 assists during this postseason. He has missed eight career playoff games due to injury, most notably a hamstring strain that sidelined Paul for the last two games of the 2018 Western Conference finals, when his Houston Rockets built a 3-2 lead but lost to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. Paul, who turns 38 on Saturday, has dealt with playoff injuries multiple times throughout his surefire Hall of Fame career. "We're not quite sure what it is right now, but it seems to be something in the groin area. "He just came up where he couldn't push off of it or anything," Suns coach Monty Williams said. Paul slowly walked up the court after the Suns got possession of the ball. ![]() ![]() Paul, who exited the arena immediately after the final buzzer and did not speak to the media, checked out of the game with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter and immediately headed to the locker room.Ī couple of possessions earlier, Paul grabbed his left groin after battling to box out Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. We're going to hold it down while he is out - or if he's out - and just take it from there." "All we can do is hope he has a speedy recovery," Suns shooting guard Devin Booker, who had 35 points and six assists in the loss, said. Paul's status is uncertain as the series shifts to Phoenix with the Suns in an 0-2 hole against the Western Conference's top seed. Suns guard Chris Paul exits Game 2 with left groin tightnessĭENVER - Suns point guard Chris Paul hobbled off the Ball Arena court in the third quarter of Phoenix's 97-87 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series Monday night due to left groin tightness. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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