Paul George has brilliant debut in LA Clippers’ loss to Pelicans

Paul George had a masterful debut for the LA Clippers Thursday night, inspiring hope about the future of the season and the franchise.

Coming into Thursday’s night’s game between the LA Clippers and New Orleans Pelicans, expectations for Paul George were varied. Would he come out and dominate? Would he look rusty and inefficient? How much would he really do with his minutes restricted?

We wanted to temper our expectations, and for good reason. George hasn’t played an NBA game since April, and coming off of two shoulder surgeries, it was difficult to predict how he would look with his new team.

It’s safe to say now that George’s night blew us all away.

The 29-year-old forward went off for 33 points, nine rebounds and four assists in his Clippers debut, and he did so in just 24 minutes. According to Basketball-Reference’s Player Game Finder, he’s the first player in NBA history to have such a line in 25 minutes or less.

And although the short-handed Clippers lost the night to an equally short-handed Pelicans team, that doesn’t feel like the most important takeaway.

All that matters right now is that George looked good, and he looked healthy. Perhaps more importantly, he looked ready to take off the training wheels and dive right into the season.

George got things going early for the Clippers, scoring 10 points and helping the team put up 35 in the first quarter. LA has had problems scoring early so far this season, so George’s instant offense was an extremely welcome sight.

He was mostly quiet in the second, adding four points to LA’s tally. All of them came from the free-throw line as well, which was another positive sign.

Coming off of two shoulder surgeries, you would have expected George to show some hesitation when driving to the rim or playing defense in the paint. But instead, he seemed motivated to take some hits, get a little roughed up and draw fouls. It showed in the box score too, as George finished the night connecting on all 10 of his attempts from the free-throw line.

George went off in the second half, scoring 19 of his 33 total points despite playing just 15 minutes after the break. He was hitting from all ranges, finishing the game shooting 58.8 percent from the floor and 60 percent from three-point range.

There were a few negatives, however.

George committed five turnovers and picked up five fouls in a relatively short amount of time, which could have kept him from playing a few more minutes in a tight loss. That said, he probably wouldn’t have played more than 25 minutes if he didn’t do either of those things, and it feels safe to assume that he’ll play a cleaner game when he’s expected to be on the floor for a majority of it.

Numbers aside, George simply looked ready — and that matters a lot more than a five-point loss to the Pelicans on the second night of a back-to-back in November does.

There’s a lot to be excited about in the coming days for this Clippers team. LA hosts the Atlanta Hawks Saturday, which is expected to be George and Kawhi Leonard‘s first game together. The Clippers should also get Patrick Beverley back for that one, giving LA something of a defensive counter for Trae Young.

But back to Leonard and George. Both of these guys are superstars. Top-10 talents in the league. And they play for the LA Clippers. That hasn’t seemed to sink in just yet for fans.

Between Leonard’s playmaking, George’s scoring and their ability on defense, it’s not hard to see why many pegged these two as the league’s best duo. And the best part? We’re just getting started here.

As was previously mentioned, the LA Clippers will take the floor Saturday back in Los Angeles for a meeting with the Atlanta Hawks. It’s shaping up to be a good one.