Phoenix Suns’ Monty Williams says it was his call to limit Chris Paul in second half of Game 2

With Chris Paul clearly favoring his proper shoulder, Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams stated it was his choice to maintain his star level guard on the bench for almost all of the second half of Tuesday night time’s 109-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Sport 2 of their first-round sequence.

Paul, who suffered a proper shoulder contusion within the second quarter of the Suns’ Sport 1 win, wasn’t on the damage report Tuesday however performed with a skinny wrap round a lot of the shoulder. He performed 23 minutes, together with simply seven minutes within the second half, when he had one level and two assists.

“I took him out, that was all me,” Williams stated. “Simply him holding his arm the way in which he was holding it, I simply couldn’t watch him run like that, making an attempt to make performs. He battled. He’s a warrior, everyone knows that. I simply decided to take him out.”

Paul completed with six factors on 2-of-5 taking pictures, together with 5 assists and three rebounds.

Paul’s damage occurred Sunday when he ran into teammate Cameron Johnson and fell to the ground in apparent ache whereas holding his proper shoulder. He stated afterward that he “heard a crack” when he suffered the damage. Paul briefly left the courtroom, and though he returned a couple of minutes later, he didn’t look proper, dribbling largely along with his left hand.

After the Sport 2 loss, Williams stated he didn’t have particular particulars of Paul’s damage or availability for Friday’s Sport 3, however he stated it was “fairly apparent” that Paul’s shoulder was compromised.

“He’s not capable of make the passes he needs. He was laboring tonight,” Williams stated. “I don’t need to get into too many particulars till I discuss to him about it, however you possibly can see he wasn’t even working the way in which he ran and dribbled the ball this morning. We’re hopeful it’ll get higher over the following 48 hours.”

Suns guard Devin Booker, who had a team-high 31 factors Tuesday, stated he was hopeful that Paul could be prepared for Sport 3.

“That’s Chris, man. He’s gonna battle. He’s a warrior on the market,” Booker stated. “I do know he doesn’t need something greater than to win these video games. I do know he’s going to do all the things in his energy to be on the market. Clearly nonetheless bothering him. We’ve a brief couple days he can get some restoration and therapy in. Hopefully get it proper for subsequent recreation. “

The Related Press contributed to this report.