Los Angeles Lakers: Why the series vs. Phoenix is already a wrap

1. Chris Paul’s injury

To be completely transparent, even if Chris Paul wasn’t hurt I would not love the Phoenix Suns’ chances in this series being down two games to one. But CP3 battling a shoulder injury only adds to the laundry list of why the Lakers will win this series.

Chris Paul is still gutting through the injury and playing in this series, which definitely deserves some applause and love from the NBA community, but he is obviously not himself. Paul does not appear to be able to shoot much, attempting only eight shots in the Game 3 loss.

Phoenix has been limiting his minutes and he only played 27 on Thursday. In Game 2, the Lakers pulled away when Paul was sitting on the bench, watching his young team get worked by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Chris Paul is the reason why the Suns were the second-seed in the West to begin with. This is a team that was below .500 last season and it was Paul’s veteran leadership that helped put them over the edge.

Now, would they have been a playoff team even without Paul, especially with how they played in the seeding games last year? Yes, most likely. But would they have been the second seed in the West? Not a chance.

The Lakers are already an overqualified seventh seed while the Suns are getting a 50% version of the guy who elevated them to be a second seed. In reality, despite what the standings say, the Lakers are more like the second seed while Phoenix is more like the seventh seed.