Chris Paul Leads Phoenix to His First NBA Finals

Plant-based NBA star Chris Paul is going to the NBA Finals for the first time in his 16-year career. The 36-year-old scored 41 points as the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-103 in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals tonight (Wednesday, June 30), sealing the series 4-2.

Paul was close to perfect. He hit 16 of his 24 shots, made seven of his eight three-pointers and added eight assists, Yahoo Sports reports. He scored 31 of his points after half-time, which the Los Angeles Times notes makes him only the third player in 25 years to score 30 or more in the second half of a series-clinching win. He did it at Staples Center, where he played six seasons for the Clippers.

It's the Suns' first trip to the Finals since 1993, and it comes after Paul missed the first two games of this series while in the league's Covid-19 protocols. They'll meet either Milwaukee or Atlanta.

Paul switched to a plant-based diet in 2019 and says the difference shows up in how his body feels across a long season:

I do feel really good right now. I think the biggest change for me is the aches and pains of the season. I started working out and training and I got to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I thought, am I not lifting hard enough? Am I not training hard enough? Why am I not achy?

That was his verdict a few months after going plant-based, and his numbers have climbed ever since. He's a Beyond Meat ambassador and this year teamed up with goPuff to stock more plant-based brands, many of them Black-owned. "I'm passionate about the benefits of a plant-based diet," he told VegNews.

Paul's turn came after he went plant-based while working on The Game Changers, and last year he was named to his 10th All-Star Game. Fellow vegan JaVale McGee won a third NBA title with the Lakers last October, and Kyrie Irving starred in a Nike advert about his plant-based diet.

No meat, no problem.