The nine-time All-Star has been ruled out with a sore left adductor for
the Rockets' game against the LA Clippers on Friday (8 ET, ESPN).
Paul suffered the injury during the fourth quarter of Wednesday night's
loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The loss, which snapped Houston's
14-game win streak, was Paul's first loss in a Rockets uniform. After
playing in the Rockets' opening night win, Paul missed the next month
due to a left knee C.C. Sabathia Youth Jersey injury.Calm and collected is not the way you'd expect the key figures
of a young Los Angeles Lakers team to be in the closing moments of a win
against the best team in the league. Just don't tell Kyle Kuzma or any
of the other Lakers that they are not supposed to be that way with the
game on the line. Because it's that sort of confidence under pressure
that led to Kozma's career-high 38 points and the Lakers snapping the
Houston Rockets' win streak at 14 games Wednesday night at Toyota
Center.
Luke Walton's team is Carlos Beltran Youth Jersey in the midst of one of the most brutal stretches of their early season,
having seen Cleveland, Golden State, the Rockets, the Warriors again
(Friday) and Portland (Saturday) in the lead up to their Christmas Day
matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are competing against
the best, showing some signs of real growth and even facing down a
season-long demon late to secure the win over the Rockets, as Tania
Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times points out: Houston got within six
points with 54 seconds left on a Harden layup, but a charge by Rockets
guard Eric Gordon gave the ball back to the Lakers with 28.4 seconds to
go. In the final 30 seconds, the Lakers missed three free throws, a
common nemesis.
"I asked the Chad Green Youth Jersey group who could make a damn free throw at the end of the game and
[Kuzma] said, 'Me,' " coach Luke Walton said. "And they fouled him and
he missed his first one and barely made the second one so I love his
confidence."
It's the first win in a brutal stretch of games for the Lakers
against the league's top teams. The win Wednesday followed their trend
of playing those types of teams close.
They lost to the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland
Cavaliers by nine points last Thursday. They lost to the NBA champion
Golden State Warriors by two points in overtime on Monday.
In some ways, those losses might have led to this win.
"We lost a bunch of tough close games and our guys haven't lost
faith or work ethic in what we are doing even though we have been losing
games," Walton said. "They have been coming in and practicing just as
well, just as hungry, just as motivated and keep getting better and it
takes the failure, it hurts to really grow and come out stronger
inside."
