Chris Paul is back, and the Suns are a once again a threat to the Lakers

Melissa RohlinFOX Sports NBA Writer

After making consecutive 17- and 18-foot fadeaway jumpers in the third quarter, Chris Paul turned to the crowd at Staples Center and poured out four games of frustration into two words.

“I’m back,” he shouted, as he ran down the court. 

Ever since Paul suffered a right shoulder contusion in Game 1 of the Phoenix Suns’ first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, he’s been reduced to a shadow of the wrecking ball he typically transforms into during big games. 

He’s passed up open 3s. His shots have clanked off the front of the rim. He hasn’t hurled his body into the mix to fight for open rebounds. 

But that changed Sunday as Paul led the Suns with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting, nine assists and three steals in their 100-92 win, breathing excitement and intrigue into a series that’s now tied 2-2.

The craziest part was Paul almost didn’t play. 

It came down to an emotional conversation before tipoff between Paul and Suns coach Monty Williams. After Paul’s lackluster seven-point performance in Game 3, Williams had decided Paul was going to sit in Game 4. Williams agonized over that decision for 48 hours, but he didn’t want Paul to aggravate his injury further, or for his team to suffer behind a hobbled point guard. 

But Paul insisted he give it a try.

“I said, ‘I don’t know if it will be two minutes, I don’t know if it will be 32 minutes, but I feel like I gotta try to give it what I got,” Paul said.  

After a 20-minute talk in which both men looked into each other’s eyes and pleaded their case, Williams relented. He decided he had to trust Paul, an 11-time All-Star who is trying to win the first championship of his 16-season career. 

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“He’s trained to be in these moments and my final thought was I don’t want to be the one that takes that away from him,” Williams said. “That was the last thing I was thinking about. Who am I to take that away from him? He’s worked his tail off for years to be in this moment, and I don’t want to be the doofus coach to take that away.”

Before taking the court, Paul gave Williams permission to yank him if he didn’t play well. He even told Devin Booker and Jae Crowder to tell him if he looked “like some trash,” and he’d take himself out of the game. 

Paul then played his heart out. 

He drove the lane. He dished out crisp passes. He made himself a shooting threat on the perimeter. And he had one of the biggest plays of the game. 

After the Lakers rallied their way back from an 18-point hole to cut their deficit to seven points, 95-88, with 2 minutes left, Paul leaped into the air and intercepted a pass attempt from Marc Gasol from behind the 3-point line. 

That steal stunted the Lakers’ momentum, preventing the Suns from potentially falling into a 3-1 series hole.

“Everything clicks a little better with [number] 3 on the court and 3 being himself,” said Crowder, who had 17 points and seven rebounds. “That’s vocally, that’s him being vocal with our units. That’s him making plays with the ball in his hands. And I feel like we feed off of that.”

While things turned around for the Suns, the Lakers were dealt a big hit.

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Anthony Davis sustained a strained left groin in the final minute of the second quarter after missing a layup. He was sidelined the entire second half and will undergo further evaluation Monday. 

Not even LeBron James’ 25-point and 12-rebound performance that included multiple high-flying dunks could help his team overcome the physical and psychological blow of losing Davis, who entered Sunday’s game finishing with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds over the last two games.  

“He’s one of the best players in the world, so you have to adjust,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “And I thought we gave a great effort to try to overcome that loss. But it certainly wasn’t enough.” 

Now the series will go back to Phoenix, where a newly invigorated Paul will get to play in front of a raucous crowd that’s about twice as large as the 8,025 capacity at Staples Center on Sunday. 

For the Suns, things are going their way. 

Paul is back. And the team’s young and supremely talented core of Booker (17 points) and Deandre Ayton (14 points and 17 rebounds) have proven game after game that they excel in a high-pressure environment in their postseason debut.

Paul not only was the best player on the court for the Suns on Sunday, but his determination inspired everyone around him. 

Williams joked that he just wished Paul’s teammates witnessed what he saw before the game. 

If that had happened, Game 4 may have been a blowout. 

“If our guys could’ve seen that conversation and could’ve seen the intention and the emotion that went into that conversation, it would’ve given us even more juice today,” Williams said. 

For more up-to-date news on all things NBA, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She has previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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