5 rebuttals to use on your friends with bad Chris Paul takes

4. Chris Paul is not responsible for Blake Griffin’s body

In some ways, Chris Paul has gotten the short end of the stick, and that’s not just because he’s only 5-foot-11. The Clippers “Big 3” is often only a Big 2 or Big 2.5 (if J.J. Redick counts). While Blake Griffin is a beast on the court, he is often not on the court. Since Paul came to town, Griffin has played in less than 70 regular season games four of the six years, including one year in which he only played 35 games. Griffin is an injury waiting to happen, and he came into the league injured, missing his entire rookie year.

Why do we blame Chris Paul for Blake Griffin’s injuries? Since the 2011-12 season, the Clippers have played in 63 playoff games. Blake Griffin has played in 51 of those 63 playoff games. With the amount of times the Clippers have lost in six or seven games, does it ever make you wonder if they would have won another series, or two, or three, if Griffin played more? The guy averages 21/9/4 in the playoffs. No one else on the Clippers roster can match that kind of production. Missing 12 playoff games over six years is extremely significant. As we’ve seen with Steph Curry’s injury in 2016 and Kyrie Irving’s injury in 2015, an injured “Big 3” player can make or break a series. In this case, Griffin has broken Paul.