This year's edition of the LA Clippers returns with poor defense, tactical adjustments and unlikely heroes. But most of all, when Kawhi Leonard was sidelined for the last five games of these NBA playoffs, he leaned on Paul George. The former MVP candidate, one of the few active Clippers players with significant conference finals experience prior to this season, is battling back a season of notoriety and social media roasts and has redefined the notion of "playoff P".
"Last year doesn't define a player; one game, one series, two series doesn't define a player," said Clippers coach Ty Lew, "and PG has always been a great player in my eyes."
It was a little less than a year ago when George hit a shot from the edge of the backboard in the Clippers Game 7, losing to the Denver Nuggets in the Florida Bubbles, a shot that threatened to define his Clippers career and left him unhappy. Turned out the ineffective "Pandemic P" nickname.
Two nights earlier, Shore once again hit a crescendo, after George missed two crucial free throws that could have put Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on the ice. Never mind that he canned back-to-back go-forward buckets before the property. It was the missed freebies that were the game's enduring image – a 104–103 defeat to the Phoenix Suns – against Deandre Ayton's clutch game-winning Gully-Oop.
George said all the right things about moving on, but these kinds of failures can last.
But, again, this season is not the last season. In the 2021 playoffs, when the Clippers have their backs against the wall, they have answered the call, and it's been George leading. In the third game of the post-season series, all the Clippers win, he averaged 29.0 points on 45.7% shooting in over 40 minutes of exhausting two-way basketball.
Thursday against the Sun, however, felt more desperate than the previous two games 3s. Leonard dropped out again, while Chris Paul was back in the lineup for the Phoenix, making his series debut against the Clippers in LA, where he took the organization to this exact level of – and unsuccessfully – six seasons. Spend it.
George's performance was not good. He needed 26 shots to get his 27 points, and missed eight of the 11 3-pointers. But he added a team-high eight assists and 15 rebounds, one shy of the final round of his playoff career. The Sons reduced the 18-point deficit to six in the fourth quarter, but George scored or assisted on the next 10 Clipper points, giving LA the final push needed in a 106–92 victory.
"This team is resilient. This team always believed," said Clippers guard Reggie Jackson. "We always believed, we never give up, we never die. We never really doubt. We just keep going away, trying to figure out how we can be better , can find ways to impose his will on his opponents."
For all the talk of letting go of the rope after last season, the Clippers and George have rewritten the narrative. They now have five double-digit wins when they are trailing the series, tying the Pistons for the most 2005 counts in NBA history. George has now played eight straight playoff games with at least 25 points, the longest singles playoff streak in Clippers history.
"We have to match his physicality and I thought we did," George said. "We have to counter their inferiority and I thought we did and it was really important. We couldn't allow this team to play harder than us, and I thought that was the way we arrived tonight "
In the Clippers' previous Game 4s, they won in dominating fashion, beating the Mavericks by 25 and the Jazz by 14. The relief of being on board was evident in the series, which were more relaxed and confident in the rest. . As they turn to another Game 4, this time, there's a stark contrast: most likely no poet. It will also be on the shoulders of George & Co.
The Clippers have already made history this season, becoming the first team to return from multiple 2-0 defeats. But in each case, they tied the series after winning the all-important Game 3. They know that coming down 2-0 and 3-1 in the series is a far more difficult challenge.
They also have George, who is confident and comfortable in his place, the horrors of last summer behind him. They can bank on Playoff P to give.
"I told myself, I'm going to do whatever I'm going to do," George told ESPN's Rachel Nichols after the game. "I'm going to give everything I have. I don't care how many minutes I have to play. That part doesn't worry me. It's a win or just go home in my opinion, and I'll just leave it on the floor."