Written by Mike Bresnahan at LATimes.com
The seat cushion never had a chance.
It bore the wrath of Chris Paul, kicked squarely off the floor and under the Clippers’ bench as their one-man engine angrily left Monday’s game with a fractured third metacarpal in his right hand.
There was no denying it — a devastating blow for the Clippers on a night they got blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers, 98-84, to even a first-round playoff series at two games each.
“It obviously doesn’t look very good for him,” said a somber Clippers Coach Doc Rivers. “For this to happen to him, he’s a very emotional guy…. The whole team was in the training room. It’s nice in that way, but the reality is you don’t have Chris Paul.”
It started out a game. It became a series of long walks to the locker room.
Paul appeared to get his finger stuck in the back of Gerald Henderson’s jersey while stripping the ball with his other hand midway through the third quarter.
The Clippers’ night somehow worsened when Blake Griffin left in the fourth quarter because of a sore left quadriceps, an injury in the same region costing him three months earlier this season.
“It doesn’t look great for him either,” Rivers said, though Griffin seemed more of the day-to-day variety while Paul could miss several weeks.
It’s now silly for the Clippers to think about Stephen Curry’s availability in the next playoff round. Especially if they don’t get there.
Even before Paul’s injury, there was no urgency from the Clippers, a startling reality knowing Golden State’s Curry would miss at least two weeks because of a sprained knee.
The Clippers had only 26 points midway through the second quarter as J.J. Redick missed his first six shots and Griffin missed his first four.
Luckily for the Clippers, there was Paul. While his teammates started out 0 for 13 (not a typo), he was a pristine six for six to prevent an early blowout.
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