The Los Angeles Clippers played the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night in one of the more highly anticipated regular season matchups in recent memory. The game was a good one and close until the end but the Warriors ended up pulling it out by a score of 112-108. One of the reasons that the Clippers lost the game was because Chris Paul was unable to play down the stretch after leaving the game with an injury. It is being reported now that although he didn't return to the game Paul doesn't expect to miss any more time, according to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
The injury Paul sustained on Wednesday night was to the groin but the injury is reportedly not serious as it is considered a strain. Paul is expected to be re-evaluated on Thursday at which point his status for the Clippers next game will be clearer. The Clippers don't play again until Saturday night when they host the Houston Rockets so the superstar point guard does have a couple of days to rest his leg.
Before leaving the game Paul was playing extremely well as he had 24 points, nine assists and three steals. Paul is also the Clippers go-to-guy in crunch time as he is known for taking and making clutch shots but they unfortunately did not have that luxury on Wednesday night. Paul has gotten off to a slow start to the season, by his standards, as his assist numbers are a little down and his turnovers are up so this game is a good sign that he is getting back to normal.
Although he seems confident he won't, if Paul were to miss time it would likely be Austin Rivers who would take over as the starting point guard with Pablo Prigioni backing him up. Prigioni has played just seven minutes so far this season and Rivers is averaging less than an assist per game so the Clippers would obviously rather not have to go in that direction.
