George playing ‘with vengeance’
Forward now at full strength for title-hungry Clippers
Kawhi Leonard first noticed the hints of what was to come from his teammate last fall.
With his surgically repaired shoulders healthy, and a mind only recently removed from the “dark place” he found himself in following the Clippers’ postseason collapse, Paul George attacked drills during a joint offseason training session alongside Leonard with noticeable speed.
“He put his mind into his work,” Leonard said. “A lot of his stuff was like kind of game-simulated, working on the passes, reads.”
Marcus Morris heard the clues in George’s tone. “He told us that before the year started that he was going to come with it,” Morris said.
Like his teammates, George could not have predicted the details of the blistering start that has followed - the career-bests of 50.3% shooting, including 51.5% from deep, 5.2 assists per game and 7.5 plus/minus rating. That the Clippers would be 10 points better with him on the court, and six points worse when not. But following a disappointing season’s end, George’s intent was clear — to those around him, and also himself.
“I’m coming back with vengeance,” George said after scoring 26 points Friday in the Clippers’ 138-100 rout of Sacramento to continue his red-hot play. “I didn’t like, not so much of the noise and everything around it, but just the fact that people saw weakness. And I had to address that. I had to answer that. That fueled me. That put me in a place where I wanted to come back and be myself again.”
The true extent of the bounce-back by George and the Clippers won’t be measured until the postseason, when the chance comes to exorcise the demons of the latest playoff struggle for a franchise defined by decades of them.
Yet to start, the 6-foot-9 forward has not only played like himself again but often looked like his best possible version in helping the Clippers produce the league’s second-best offense and a 9-4 start.
“After the tough year last year, it was the only way I could respond,” George said. “. I had nothing but to get better. That was the only thing on my mind and the only thing was to get better.”
George made four of his eight three-pointers against the Kings, the 10th time this season he’s made at least four three-pointers, which ties for the league lead with Portland’s C.J. McCollum. George’s shot chart, where zones tinged green represent an accuracy 10 percentage points better than the league average, is the same color as the light coach Tyronn Lue has given him to fire away.
George has made 83% of his three-pointers from the left corner, 63% from the right and nearly 48% beyond the arc in between. The Palmdale native has been careless with the ball at times, committing a career-high average of 3.9 turnovers. But when he has held on to it for a shot, it has usually resulted in only good things. George has made 57% of his catch-and-shoot opportunities and shot 46% off the dribble.
His 21-point average and 38% three-point shooting against the Nuggets in the second round were forgotten amid the team’s collapse after leading the series 3-1. Leonard and George combined to shoot two for 18 after halftime in a Game 7 loss that left the franchise 0-8 all-time with a chance to clinch a berth in the conference finals.
NBA peers joined the chorus on social media mocking the Clippers and George, lacking the two-time Finals MVP credentials of his teammate
George has acknowledged using that “noise” as motivation while also insisting he has moved on from worrying about the very same discussion.
He called himself in a “healthier mind state” after Friday’s 38-point win, and not only because the Clippers had not allowed a double-digit lead to slip away, as had become a trend.
“I give him credit, but he was able to work out this summer,” Leonard said. “Last summer he was limited, probably only could shoot 10 shots a day or so with his shoulder surgeries. And yeah, he’s coming out with determination and he’s focused.”