Chris Paul leads his new team — the Phoenix Suns — against his former team that he could never lift to this point, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Chris Paul will miss Game 1 and remain out in the league’s health and safety protocols after apparently testing positive for the coronavirus .
Leonard is officially out with a sprained knee, but this is reportedly an ACL injury of some degree, which means the team will be especially cautious, and it seems a long shot we see him this series.
The Clippers will need another Playoff P performance from Paul George this series, but more than that they will need their role players — particularly Reggie Jackson and Terance Mann — to step up with big performances.
The Clippers did it last series to Rudy Gobert with some success, although ultimately the Jazz decided to keep Gobert in more and dare guys like Terance Mann and Patrick Beverley to beat them from 3, and… we saw how that ended.
For two rounds, the Suns have faced teams that work not to switch and run a more traditional drop-back coverage with their big men — and that worked for Phoenix.
It also means the Suns can more easily dictate matchups, and have Devin Booker target specific defenders and try to isolate them — Donovan Mitchell had great success doing that a couple of games against the Clippers .
The Suns’ offense overwhelmed both the Blazers and Nuggets, neither could get stops or keep up by putting up big enough offensive numbers.