The Phoenix Suns are the first team to reach the final four of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. On Sunday from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, Chris Paul of Winston-Salem, North Carolina scored 37 points as the Suns defeated the Denver Nuggets 125-118. With the win, the Suns swept the Nuggets four games to none.
The 37 points were the highest Paul scored for the Suns all year (regular season or playoffs). Paul’s previous high with the Suns was 34 points in a 109-108 Phoenix win over the Dallas Mavericks on February 1, 2021.
Paul’s 37 points were also the second most points he has had in his career in a playoff game. His career postseason high was 41 points, which came on May 8, 2018, while with the Houston Rockets, in a 112-102 Houston win over the Utah Jazz in game five of the 2018 Western Conference semifinals. The game on Sunday, and the game three years ago had similarities, as both games were elimination contests where Paul guided his team to the Western Conference Finals.
Paul, who is 36 years of age, has been playing basketball at a high quality, ever since joining the Suns from the Oklahoma City Thunder via a trade in the offseason. He had an outstanding regular season for the Suns (16.4 points per game, and led the NBA with a .934 free throw percentage), and in the playoffs, is now averaging 15.7 points per game, and leading all players in the postseason with 87 assists. In the four game sweep over the Nuggets, Paul also became the oldest player to average 25 points per game, and 10 assists per game in a playoff series. In the four games, he averaged 25.5 points per game and 10.3 assists per game.
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