After his playoff games in the NBA bubble, Paul George’s guard, Paul George, said he had to return ‘with revenge’ this season to address the fact that ‘people saw poorly’ in him.
An extremely motivated George continued his stormy start to the season by scoring 8 of 14 shots and scoring 26 points to beat the Clippers 138-100 Friday night at the Sacramento Kings in the Golden 1 Center.
“I’m coming back with a vengeance,” George said of the attitude he entered this season after he and the Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in the second round to Denver last post-season. ‘I did not like it, not so much of the noise and everything around [the way last season ended], but only the fact that people saw weakness.
‘And I had to address it. I had to answer that. It fired me up. It put me in a place where I wanted to come back and be myself again. ‘
George told teammates who entered the season that he was going to return to the form that helped him finish third in the MVP poll during the 2018-19 season while in Oklahoma City.
“P is currently playing at a high level,” said Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. ‘What we all knew he would do. I feel like he’s experiencing an MVP season. And he told us he would come there before the start of the year. ‘
George picks a career high of 50.3% from the field, 51.5% from the 3-point range and 91.8% from the free-throw line. He made 4 out of 8 tries against the Kings. George has made four or more 3s in 10 of his 12 games this season.
George said he told teammates he was going to return to his MVP form this season because he had no other choice.
“After the difficult year last year, that was the only way I could respond,” George said. “I immediately went straight to a dark place where I just, I had nothing but to get better. It was the only thing in my head and the only thing was to get better.
“For almost two years my shoulders have not been operated on … So I’m just in a healthier state of mind, I’m in a healthier place.”
Last season, George struggled when he came down from two shoulder surgeries after the 2018-19 season. During the NBA reload in the bubble, George experienced the worst shooting collapse he experienced in the playoffs. He combined 10-for-47 in Games 2, 3 and 4, including missing 21 of 25 attempts behind the 3-point line, in the first round against Dallas.
George admitted that he had depression and anxiety in Orlando, Florida, because he could not be with his family and loved ones. Then the Clippers collapsed in the second round after the Nuggets.
While George and Kawhi Leonard jointly shot just 10-for-38 and combined to score a total of 24 points in their Game 7 defeat, George was the one who got a lot of heat from critics. His three-point corner kick that hit the back plate in the fourth quarter symbolized the Clippers’ collapse.
Not only was George roasted on social media, but he even heard rumors this season from opponents like Chris Paul and Devin Booker of Phoenix during a game on Jan. 3 when George and the two Suns guards exchanged words. George said he ‘chirped a lot and heard people who only lived in the past’.
George chose to let his game speak for itself, with an average of 25.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals to match his best shooting percentages.
“He was able to practice this summer,” Leonard said. “Last summer he was limited, he could probably only shoot ten shots a day with his shoulder surgeries. He comes out determined and he’s focused.”
“I can not predict the future,” Leonard adds as he sees it coming as the two work out in the off-season. ‘But all I could say was that he kept his job in mind, and when I went to practice with him, a lot of his stuff was like some kind of a game-simulated, work-in-progress, read , and it just translates more or less. “