Chris Paul to miss at least two weeks with hamstring strain

NEW YORK, USA – Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul will miss at least two weeks with a left hamstring strain, club general manager Daryl Morey said Friday, December 21. 

An MRI exam revealed a grade-2 strain, a day after the veteran was injured in the second quarter of the Rockets 101-99 loss  to the Heat in Miami.

The 33-year-old point guard is averaging 15.6 points, 8.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals a game this season for the Rockets. Morey said the injury would be reevaluated in two weeks.

Houston, which went an NBA best 65-17 last season, was on a five-game win streak and at 15-15 for the campaign when Paul went down.

The Rockets are 0-5 without Paul this season, scoring 9.4 fewer points a game than rivals in those situations, and have dropped 9 games in a row without him going back to last season’s playoffs.

That’s when Paul suffered a right hamstring strain and Houston fell one win short of reaching the NBA Finals.

Paul, who signed a new four-year contract worth $160 million before the season began, has helped the Rockets go 77-22 when he’s in the lineup but has been nagged by hamstring injuries throughout his career.

In all, Paul has missed 19 games with 5 prior hamstring injuries with his teams going 9-10 overall without him. – Rappler.com