The Phoenix Suns defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 123-109 on Tuesday night to even their best-of-seven playoff series up at one win apiece.
Early in the outing L.A. looked poised to steal a second road game from the opposition, but in the second half Phoenix rallied and ultimately won in fairly dominant fashion.
After the outing, eagle-eyed fans couldn’t help but notice a particularly icy exchange between Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers and Chris Paul of the Suns.
this CP3 and Kawhi bump 👀 what’s that about pic.twitter.com/djEXms4UTF
— alex medina (@mrmedina) April 19, 2023
The reactions, given the personalities involved, were largely what one would expect under the circumstances.
New season of Beef, incoming. https://t.co/s7EYqDAKAb
— ñate (@natedunn) April 19, 2023
I’m sorry, doesn’t this mean we supposed to scrap? Accident or not… https://t.co/9X7jSEe5ke
— TampaJoe (@Tampa_Joe_813) April 19, 2023
Cp doing cp things! https://t.co/uK6XvnhX0O
— (1-1) (@Brennansmi1981) April 19, 2023
That said, according to Bleacher Report NBA insider Chris Haynes, the encounter wasn’t as it originally appeared.
I personally witnessed this “exchange” up close. Chris Paul gave Kawhi Leonard a pat on the midsection and Leonard slapped Paul’s leg. The bump was accidental. Those two are good. pic.twitter.com/Zsz2ezaZlA
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 19, 2023
Make of that what you will.
The NBA playoffs are only one week old but already the storylines have been off the charts. Between players getting stomped out, cheerleaders’ wild photos going viral and Austin Reaves’ girlfriend becoming an international superstar, it has been one thing after another.
Brittany’s provocative outfit led to some mixed reactions. https://t.co/8nfflYpgWw
— Game 7 (@game7__) April 19, 2023
This maybe-it-exists, maybe-it-doesn’t beef between Leonard and Paul is just par for the course.
One way or another, a lot of questions will ultimately be answered by how Leonard and Paul interact come Game 3.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
