After suffering another hamstring injury in Thursday’s loss to Boston, the LA Clippers have to exercise extra caution with Paul George.
During the second quarter of Thursday’s loss to the Boston Celtics, Paul George left the court with a hamstring injury. He would not return. With All-Star break starting, George will have a week of no games and only two practices. The LA Clippers should give him off a lot more time than that.
This is George’s third time this season dealing with a hamstring injury. Each time, he has missed a few games before being cleared to return. The third time is the charm though, right? The training staff needs to give him more time off then he had before to ensure he is fully healthy for the postseason even if it means sacrificing time to mesh with the other players.
The good news? Doc Rivers said after the game that the injury wasn’t too bad. According to Doc, George mentioned that he could feel his hamstring tightening up at which point Doc pulled him out. That’s a great step in the right direction. Being overly cautious with a superstar is always the right decision.
The Clippers won’t again take the court for a game until February 22 when they host the Sacramento Kings. There’s no doubt in my mind that George should sit out that game and possibly more.
Even if he doesn’t, the Clippers should at the very least think about using injury management on him in the same vein as Kawhi Leonard. Leonard has not played on both games of a back-to-back this season and likely won’t be going forward. Perhaps the team can get away with staggering them, having PG play on the first night and Kawhi on the second.
George has played in only 34 games this season for LA, putting up 21.7 points on 42.6% shooting. He is also averaging 6.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
Clippers’ Twitter is going to complain about George’s injury, calling him soft, injury-prone, and asking for Shai back (Don’t get me started on that again, please). Let them. Having Paul George healthy for the postseason is really all that matters.