Denver Nuggets: Five storylines in the Phoenix Suns series

Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns: Chris Paul’s injury

Maybe it’s the weight of Phoenix fan’s expectations on his shoulder, maybe it’s old age, but Chris Paul is dealing with a shoulder injury that was serious enough to limit his playing time in the first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

He injured it in Game 1 against the defending champs and only played an uninspiring 22 minutes in their Game 2 loss. Before entering Game 4, he was listed as ‘questionable’ with a right shoulder contusion.

We later learned that he talked head coach Monty Williams into letting him play after the coach wanted to take the cautious route. As he told ESPN:

"“He said, ‘Coach, let me start, and if you don’t think I’m looking like I normally do, then take me out and we’ll have to go in a different direction’. This is one of those situations that I had to trust the player.”"

The Suns won the series in six games and a blistering hot start to the final game meant there wasn’t much pressure on the starting point guard. On the series, he averaged 28.3 minutes a night, a career-low for any playoff trip.

He didn’t look 100 percent and spent much of the end of the series just dribbling the ball down, not getting into the defense much.

Jeff Stotts, certified athletic trainer and operator of the In Street Clothes website/database believes it’s a stinger or nerve issue.

He adds that in his database of players with a similar injury, the average time lost is less than one game.

This could all be in the rear-view mirror by the time the ball is tipped off on Monday night, but with a season-ending injury to Nuggets’ starting guard Jamal Murray, an injury to CP3 would only help Denver’s chances at winning the series.