Chris Paul says he’s done feeling sorry for himself

Chris Paul experienced a lot of emotions after suffering a Grade 3 AC joint separation of his right shoulder during Friday’s game against Dallas.

He settled on relief.

“It’s one of those situations where it could have been worse,” Paul said Monday evening. “I woke up yesterday and was done feeling sorry for myself. [I] got to approach the rehab and get back as soon as I possibly can.”

The injury happened during Friday’s game when Paul was fouled by Mavericks guard Monta Ellis while dribbling around a screen in the third quarter.

Paul fell to the floor, and immediately knew something was wrong.

“I was mad,” he said. “That’s why I slammed my mouthpiece or whatnot. I felt it when it happened. I could sort of hear it and I knew that it was pretty significant. I think the thing that made me mad too is I feel like as athletes, you prepare, you do everything possible to try to not get injured. That’s all the preparation, the strength training, the stretching. I think that was the most frustrating part.”

The Clippers’ All-Star guard was averaging 19.6 points, 11.2 assists and 4.6 rebounds a game this season. He’s expected to miss six weeks.

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said he tried to be optimistic when talking to Paul, telling the guard that the injury will give Paul time to rest so he can be fresh down the stretch.

Let’s just say Paul wasn’t exactly convinced.

“I ain’t trying to hear all of that,” Paul said. “I want to play and I need to play.”

The Clippers are 10-10 when Paul hasn’t played since he joined the team for the 2011-12 season. Paul, however, said that he thinks his team will be just fine in his absence.

“DC is very capable,” Paul said of Darren Collison. “Blake [Griffin] has shown that with or without me he’s a dominant force in this league. I’m not worried about us.”
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