Paul George of the LA Clippers has had a rollercoaster of a playoff career.
He put together a lot of incredible playoff performances early in his playoff career, and named himself ‘Playoff P.’ In the past few years before this season, however, he had disappointed at times in the playoffs. As a result, many still look for any opportunity they can to criticize his playoff performance and reinvent his nickname to ‘Wayoff P’ or ‘Pandemic P.’
Those jokes were said a bit too soon, as Paul George had a very solid performance in the Clippers’ first round playoff series this year. Playoff P is back.
No. 1 reason why Playoff P is back: He’s playing well-rounded basketball
George’s critics strike loudest when he has a bad shooting night, and a bad three-point shooting night in particular. It was hard to do that at times in this series, however, because there were times when George was shooting poorly, but finding other ways to contribute.
George has registered a double-double in all of the last three games.
In Game 5, he put up 23 points and 10 rebounds. In Game 6, when Paul George shot poorly (6 of 15 and 2 for 7 from three), he still had 20 points and collected 13 rebounds.
It goes to show that even when George isn’t shooting the way he is more than capable of, he can still be a huge difference-maker on the boards. Keep in mind that these two great rebounding performances were when the Mavericks were playing much bigger lineups. George still was a force on the boards.
In Game 7, it was another tough shooting day for PG. He was 2 of 8 behind the three-point line and 5 of 15 overall. This time he again proved how well-rounded he was, but this time not even as a rebounder.
He had six rebounds which was nice, but what was even more impressive was his 10 assists.
George has a superstar skillset, and really put it all together in the last few games of the series. He had a double-double in Game 2 as well.
Having a wide skillset can create many fits for the opposition, and George has established his many tools.