No Chris Paul, no problem...for one series anyway. After that, the Los Angeles Clippers will be in trouble without their point guard, according to WhatIfSports.com's NBA simulation engine. We played the Clippers against the Portland Trail Blazers and some other possible playoff opponents to compare how the team fared with and without Paul, who suffered a broken hand during Game 4 against the Blazers. Every matchup was simulated 1,001 times to generate an overall win percentage. Paul's absence hinders the Clippers' chances of making it beyond Round 2:
*To simulate a matchup with Paul sidelined, simply select "Edit Depth Chart" and create your own lineup.
In the simulation, we moved Austin Rivers into the starting lineup and also increased Pablo Prigioni's minutes. We included a healthy Blake Griffin, which could be generous considering Griffin's questionable Game 5 status and lingering injuries. Every opponent used its playoff rotation, with Steph Curry (out for two weeks) excluded from the Warriors' lineup.
Just yesterday, WhatIfSports declared the Warriors an underdog to the Clippers if the two teams were to meet in the second round without Curry. However, Paul's injury swung the advantage back to Golden State, with the Curry-less Warriors a narrow favorite over the Clippers sans Paul. If Los Angeles advances to the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs or Thunder would both have the edge even with a healthy Paul running the show. Without Paul, the likelihood of an NBA Finals appearance is diminished even further.
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