36-year-old Chris Paul is doing everything he can to ensure his team is the one raising the Larry O’Brien trophy this year.
Besides putting the Suns on his back in Round 1, he also instituted a curfew for his teammates against the Pelicans.
During Friday’s episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, ESPN’s Windhorst said Paul instituted a curfew for his teammates during road games in New Orleans.
Windhorst noted that the edict came directly from CP3 and not the coaching staff, and it called for players to be back at the hotel by a certain time.
While Windhorst is unsure what time the curfew was set for, Paul reportedly had hotel rooms set up for him and his teammates to watch other NBA playoff games and play cards.
The team apparently responded well to the curfew, as the Suns won the series 4-2 after splitting the first two games at home. Phoenix closed out New Orleans with a 115-109 win Thursday night.
The Suns were the NBA’s best team all season long — so they’re probably the last squad that needs a curfew to win. But Paul, being the leader that he is, wants to make sure that all of his teammates are locked in, focused on the games, and ready for whatever comes next.
Considering the Suns beat NOLA in the series, CP3 must be doing something right.
The question is, how will it translate to the next round? As the Suns face off against a young and rising Dallas team, they will have their hands full trying to slow down Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson. And with Booker still trying to find his form, the burden will be on Paul to carry the squad in the first couple of games.
We will see soon enough how it all fares for the Suns, but it’s clear that they want this and they have no intention of backing down now.
