CP3, Lillard both exit in Clips' win over Blazers
LOS ANGELES — A pair of All-Star point guards went to their respective locker rooms in the third quarter Monday night in Los Angeles, and neither returned to action in the Clippers‘ 102-87 win over the Trail Blazers.
Portland point guard Damian Lillard left the floor with abdominal pain less than two minutes into the second half and soon was followed by L.A. point guard Chris Paul, who exited with a rib muscle strain.
Paul left the game at the 5:11 mark of the third quarter. Coach Doc Rivers said he will be evaluated throughout the week. His status for the Clippers’ Wednesday night game against Indiana will be updated after he is re-examined, and he currently is day-to-day, a team official said.
Paul finished with 10 points, six assists and a pair of steals in the win.
Lillard said he wasn’t feeling well from the start.
“As soon as the game started, I just felt dead, low energy,” Lillard said. “I just felt weak. I tried to play through it just to see if I’d be able to get myself going. I’d never felt like that. Turning and running in different directions, I wasn’t comfortable — stomach pain. I felt like, at some point, I didn’t want to throw up on the court.”
Lillard said he suspected the illness could be traced to an omelet he ate following the team’s shootaround Monday morning.
“It was the same stuff I always eat,” Lillard said.
Lillard said he initially noticed a few minor symptoms pregame but he didn’t feel the true onset of the illness until just before tipoff.
“When I was shooting, I even felt myself getting a little bit winded,” Lillard said. “My stomach felt a little bit tight but I thought it was maybe because I took a nap. My body was waking up. I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t feel sick. When the game was about to start. I was going through warm-ups, I started to feel a little bit sick.”
Lillard scored seven points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field without an assist in 15 first-half minutes. He returned to the locker room at halftime with the hope of harnessing some energy to compete in the second half.
“I wanted to try for the third [quarter] just to see if I could come back here and get some stuff in me, but it didn’t work,” Lillard said.
Lillard asked out of the game early in the third quarter, coach Terry Stotts said, then retreated to the locker room, where he vomited.
“Everything that came out was the meal we had after shootaround,” Lillard said.
Lillard has played in all 264 games during his NBA career but said his status is uncertain for the Trail Blazers’ next game, Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks in Portland. He said it was too early to tell.
“If I’m good enough to go, then I’m going to play,” he said. “But I can’t go out there the way I was tonight. I know I can’t play like that.”
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