Chris Paul finishes with 17 points and 13 assists in his 1st game back after a 15-game absence.
Suns All-Star point guard Chris Paul was back in the mix for Phoenix as they defeated the Denver Nuggets 140-130 on Thursday. Paul was listed as probable and has been healing up from a broken right thumb that he suffered in a win vs. Houston on Feb. 16 — the Suns’ last game before the All-Star break.
On Thursday against Denver, Paul ended up playing 29 minutes, while recording 17 points (6-10 FGs), 13 assists, a steal and a block.
“I’ve been playing pickup, 3-on-3, 2-on-2, but 5-on-5 is totally different, especially when your first game back is in Denver. I mean, whew!” said Paul, who served as the ideal wingman for Devin Booker, who scored a season-high 49 points and 10 assists.
The number on Booker’s mind, however, wasn’t 49.
“Sixty wins is something I never even thought of, to be completely honest,” he said.
“We have a special team, it’s that simple,” Paul said. “But just being back for the warmup stuff, the pregame stuff, you know what I mean? There’s nothing like being part of this team. I’m just happy that I could get back.”
Game Recap: Suns 140, Nuggets 130
The Suns trailed most of the game, but used a 36-24 fourth quarter to improve to their NBA-best road record to 30-6.
Suns coach Monty Williams said before the game he had a certain number of minutes in mind for Paul’s return, “but you can’t cookie-cut it. I have to watch him, especially when there’s a break in the action. There are certain times with an athlete you’ve got to know if a guy is laboring. He knows and he’ll tell me. But it’s something we’ve got to monitor. You won’t see him close to his normal 28-32 (minutes). With the games we have left we’ve got to do our best to get him where he needs to be.”
It's been a minute. 😌 pic.twitter.com/QUNm6int6x
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 25, 2022
The Suns lead the NBA with a 60-14 record and are trying to make The Finals for a second straight season after losing to Milwaukee in the 2021 series.
“I don’t think one person in our locker room wasn’t thinking about 60 wins and what it meant,” Williams said after emerging from his boisterous locker room.
“I think getting Chris back tonight gave us a ton of confidence,” Williams said. “And Book having one of the best performances I’ve seen him have since I’ve been here … the fact that he’s not in the MVP conversation is just somewhat silly.”
Phoenix went 11-4 during Paul’s absence and has won its last seven games and nine of its last 11 overall. Paul was hurt when he got his hand jammed on a pass and argued for the first technical. He then bumped into referee J.T. Orr a few seconds later to earn a second technical and an ejection, leaving the court holding his right hand.
At the time of the injury, he hoped to play for Team LeBron in the All-Star Game, and played only two mostly ineffectual minutes in Cleveland.
“For me, I always want to play. I haven’t missed a game this season, you know what I mean,” Paul said in late February. “So when I did feel that in my hand I was mad for all types of reasons, but obviously we won’t do anything dumb or stupid.
“So I’m going to try to heal as fast as physically possible and the second that I am able to play, I guarantee you I will be playing.”
This season, Paul is averaging 14.9 points and an NBA-leading 10.7 assists while shooting 48.7% overall and 33% on 3-pointers.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
