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.
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.
No. 3 reason why Playoff P is back: He’s ignoring the noise
Last year when George was getting heavily criticized, he wasn’t afraid to lash out and fire back at his haters.
While George claimed that he didn’t care about the haters when responding, it appeared that he did because; if he didn’t care, why was he talking about it and responding to them?
This time, PG didn’t even bother thinking about the trolls. He had plenty of opportunities to, as they were all over him already by the end of the first half in Game 1.
He could’ve tried to clap back, but he stayed true to himself, his teammates, and his fans who supported him. It shows that he has matured since last year, where he quite frankly wasn’t the ‘Playoff P’ that he could’ve been at times in the postseason.
George backed himself up with his play on the court, which is the best way to do it.
The entire Clippers roster did. Remember when Montrezl Harrel tried trolling us after Game 2?
https://twitter.com/MONSTATREZZ/status/1397431266073464840
Since that tweet, the Clippers responded by winning 4 of 5 to win our series while the Lakers lost 3 of 4 to lose their series.
I like this Clippers team, and I love Playoff P. He’s back, and he’s producing at a high level. He’s well-rounded, he’s a lockdown defender, and he simply doesn’t care what anybody has to say.