Paul George: 3 reasons why ‘Playoff P’ is back
By Evan Desai
No. 2 reason why Playoff P is back: He’s playing great defense
Paul George’s well-rounded skillset doesn’t just stop at who he is as an offensive player and rebounder.
George is a 4x All-Defensive Team selection, and was even the NBA Steals Champ one year.
George looked like that dominant defensive player again, specifically in Games 5 through 7.
In Games 5 and 6, George had three blocks apiece. In Game 7, he didn’t, but still had three steals.
The Mavericks played well offensively in the series. The Utah Jazz, who the Clippers will face in the second round, will too.
George was one of the key reasons, however, that the Clippers were able to hold Luka Doncic’s teammates hostage. The Mavericks became one-dimensional too many times in this series.
Luka couldn’t win the series on his own, so when the Mavericks had bad shooting nights (Games 4, 6, and 7), the Clippers were in prime positions to win those contests.
PG played his role on defense well, and is coming into the next series hot. He took his defensive game to a new level in this series. He hadn’t had three blocks in a postseason game since 2018, and he only had 3+ steals once in the entire postseason last year.
He doesn’t have to shoot at an elite clip if he’s going to be this dominant defensively, and he proved that in this series.