Jae Crowder believes Chris Paul was texting his brother, CJ, on the sidelines about the Suns strategies as he was yelling them out in Game 1.
After having over a week off from Playoff basketball, the Phoenix Suns waltzed into the home arena without their floor general, Chris Paul, and maintained home-court advantage. A 120-114 victory that came off the back of a 40-point triple double from Devin Booker as he proved ‘point Booker’ is just as lethal when running the show on his own.
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This was, of course, the first game the Suns have played without Chris Paul since their first round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul’s missed time against LeBron James and company was due to a nagging right shoulder injury whereas currently, he’s dealing with being sidelined due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
CP3 had tested positive for COVID-19 and so will miss an undetermined amount of time. This means he could back in Game 2 or could perhaps miss out on 4 to 5 games of this series.
Jae Crowder believes Chris Paul was texting his brother Suns strategies.
Even when sidelined, Chris Paul finds a way to be effective for his teammates. The ‘point God’ is highly touted as being one of, if not, the smartest players in the league today and it shows with the way he dictates the pace of the game and dismantles opposing offenses. So, when his brother, CJ, starting spewing out Suns strategies, Jae Crowder knew something was up.
Jae Crowder told me he suspects Chris Paul was texting his brother CJ during the game because CJ was yelling out strategy points from the sideline. Jae: “I know that was CP.” 😂 The Clippers got their own brother-assist from Markieff Morris, who was courtside/helping twin Marcus https://t.co/uLK48HDUTe
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 20, 2021
This goes to show that the 36-year-old is itching to get involved with NBA action as soon as possible. Rightfully so as the Phoenix Suns cannot count on Devin Booker dropping 40-point triple doubles on a nightly basis.
A few fun facts about Booker’s night: This is the first Suns Playoff triple double since Steve Nash in 2005 and Devin Booker’s Game 1 WCF performance is only the 4th time in a Conference Finals game that a player has outright led both teams in points, assists, and rebounds. The other 3 players were LeBron James, Larry Bird, and Bill Russell.
Phoenix should count their stars that Chris Paul is not out due to injury, like Kawhi Leonard, and has a chance to hop right back into Playoff action at 100% health.
