Inside: There is no love lost between James, Phoenix’s Paul.
PHOENIX » The warmest show of diplomacy between old friends on Sunday afternoon came in the second quarter, when LeBron James was by Chris Paul’s side and gave him an embrace just before Paul walked off with a shoulder injury of undetermined severity.
For fans looking for some tenderness between two of the NBA’s 36-year-olds, both known for defying their age and personifying ruthless competitiveness, that was it in Game 1. By the fourth quarter, they were back at war.
That period was when Paul appeared to yank James’ left arm, drawing a common foul and launching the Lakers and Suns into a brief skirmish that resulted in three players receiving technical fouls and Phoenix guard Cam Payne getting ejected. And if any particular tone was set in the Suns’ 99-90 victory in Game 1 of this best-of-7 series, it might just be that there will be no love lost between James, Paul and their respective teams.
Suns coach Monty Williams said just the fact that Paul returned at all from his right shoulder injury was a huge emotional lift for the team, telling the ABC broadcast during an in-game interview that Paul was playing “with the heart of a champion” through his injury.
“I got emotional just watching him battle tonight,” Williams said afterward. “I love Chris. He and I have been friends for a long time, so I had to think about his well-being, but also trust him that he’s OK. But it gave not only our team juice, but it gave our fans a jolt to see him come back and play in the game.”
Paul got hurt early in the second quarter, making contact with James and teammate Cameron Johnson before falling to the ground grabbing his shoulder. After the game, Paul and the Suns suggested the injury won’t prevent him from missing any games, but at the time, it was uncertain how serious the injury was.
It was telling that James, who did not even shake Paul’s hand in the moments before tip-off, pushed his way through the Phoenix crowd around the prone point guard, seemingly out of concern.
James was more tightlipped about their collision in the fourth quarter, when Paul drew a foul that caused him to grab his left shoulder in pain himself. Elsewhere on the court, the incident sparked a growing tension between Alex Caruso and Payne to spill over as Payne bounced the ball at Caruso’s feet while barking at him. Montrezl Harrell moved into the fray, appearing to knock Payne off his feet, but picking him up.
Caruso and Harrell were assessed technical fouls, while Payne was hit with a double-tech that sent him to the locker room. Paul admired Payne’s tenacity in Game 1 and was impressed with how his relatively young group kept composure after that moment to close out the win.
“Things happen. It’s an emotional game,” Paul said. “But this game was representative of how we’ve been all season long — next man up. We just play together.”
The Lakers were less thrilled with the events. Coach Frank Vogel called Paul’s actions “an overlyaggressive box out, a dangerous play where LeBron was in the air and got undercut.” James was tightlipped about the incident. When asked if he thought Paul had made a dangerous play, he replied only: “I’ll be ready for Game 2.”
Lakers to reach 85% vaccination
Life is about to get a little easier for the Lakers when they reach the 85% threshold of fully vaccinated members of their traveling party. Under the NBA’s guidelines, this means relaxed restrictions, including the ability to see family and friends, to test less often, wear masks in fewer team scenarios, and to dine out and together.
The NBA’s COVID-19 protocols have meant that the Lakers haven’t been approved to even have team dinners outside of their hotels on the road.
“I envision those guys will be able to do more together in that type of setting,” Vogel said. “There’s not a great deal of difference. There’s still restrictions, but hopefully our guys will have some team dinners.”
It should help ease some tension from a week that raised some eyebrows. The NBA acknowledged that James had committed a protocol violation by attending an outdoor party with a celebrity guest list for his tequila brand before the Lakers’ play-in game this past week. The offense didn’t rise to the level of requiring a quarantine in part because several risk factors were low, a league spokesman confirmed to Southern California News Group.
James declined to comment on the protocol breach. Vogel said he had “no reaction” to the offense.
“He knows what he’s doing. We trust his decisionmaking,” Vogel said. “All we did, in terms of talking to our guys about it, is just remind them that as of (today), we expect to be a fully vaccinated team with the 85%. So just to remind them of what the rules look like, as when we can eat outdoors and we can eat indoors.”