Chris Paul will miss reunion game vs. Clippers due to strained left adductor

Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets will miss Friday’s game against his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, because of a strained left adductor.

The matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t the best of nights for Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets.

To start things off, they went into the contest without starting center Clint Capela and defensive specialist Luc Mbah a Moute. Then, Chris Paul left the game early in the fourth quarter after he felt a pain in his inner thigh. Also, the Rockets lost to the Lakers, snapping a 14 game winning streak. And to cap things off, Chris Paul has been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Clippers due to a strained left adductor.

According to Mike D’Antoni, the injury isn’t serious, but the Rockets will survey Paul’s progress very closely, via the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen.

“I think he’s day-to-day, but we’re going to be real cautious with it I’m sure. Without saying too much, it’s good, it’s not bad, but we want to make sure he’s OK.”

D’Antoni is happy that Paul decided to check himself out of the game instead if playing on his injured adductor and making it worse, via Jonathan Feigen.

“The good thing, he shut it down immediately when he felt a little bit. He’s smart enough. He could have played on it, but then he would have been out a lot longer. He should be OK. I don’t know what that means exactly, how many days, but right now it’s day-to-day and we’ll see what happens.”

Can the Houston Rockets continue to roll?

The Houston Rockets have been rolling since Paul’s return. Before Wednesday’s loss, the Rockets were 15-0 with Paul in the lineup and they had won 14 consecutive games. The Rockets ranked first in offensive rating (118.0) and third in defensive rating (101.5). They also ranked first in margin of victory (16.3) and steals per game (9.9) over that 14 game stretch.

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With Luc Mbah a Moute out for another couple of weeks and Clint Capela doubtful for Friday’s game, the Rockets will need strong contributions from their role players. Houston’s bench gets very thin after their ninth man, but D’Antoni will be forced to utilize the depths of his bench with three main players out.

After the Clippers on Friday, Houston has a meeting with the Thunder on Christmas Day, followed by showdowns with Boston on Dec. 28 and Washington on Dec. 29. Houston is entering into a more difficult portion of their schedule, but the coaching staff won’t rush back players until they’re 100 percent healthy.

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Obviously, the Rockets want the No. 1 seed so that they can have home court advantage in the postseason. With that being said, if Houston’s key players aren’t 100 percent healthy in the playoffs, home court advantage probably won’t matter. The biggest priority at this point in the season is getting everyone healthy. James Harden and Eric Gordon have played well in recent games, so hopefully they can hold down the fort until the Rockets can return to full health.

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