Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

Chris Paul sustained a broken left index finger during a morning practice Oct. 10 in Shenzhen, China. He did not play that night in the Clippers’ 106-94 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. But he did play a team-high 26 minutes on Wednesday in Shanghai, when those same Hornets demolished the Clippers 113-71.

His broken finger – an injury that occurred when Paul switched on defense to cover Paul Pierce during the aforementioned practice – was taped to his middle finger.

“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that much,” Paul said. “A lot of things I wanted to do, but I’ll be all right.”

Paul understands that he must try to play through it.

“Yeah, no question,” said Paul, who had a team-best 17 points and six assists in Shanghai. “You’ve gotta play. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you.”

Coach Doc Rivers intimated Paul can play with the injury because there are no tendons involved, though he admitted that the finger could get re-broken should it get hit in the right spot.

“I think he’s fine,” Rivers said.