Many NBA fans were excited to see Paul George paired up with Kawhi Leonard vs LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the Lakers for who would win the West. Not to mention… the battle of LA.
Many assumed the Clippers would win the West and overall were considered the better team. NBA analysts even had them to win the NBA Finals, but sadly that just didn’t happen for them. They in fact lost a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets in the Semifinals and many questioned the coaching staff, players, and their star player who they gave up draft picks to Oklahoma… Paul George.
His playoff performance this year was simply terrible. He didn’t live up to his own standards.
In the Dallas series his field goal percentage was under 35% and 3-point percentage 27%. This is below his season average of 44% and 41.2% from 3 point range.
Luka Dončić was out-dueling him and was obviously the better player. Dončić only being 21 years old, outperforming a veteran star like Paul George.
As you can see he underperformed and clearly was in a shooting slump, but after game 5 of the series he did end up scoring 35 points in a game.
He stated that the bubble had gotten the best of him because he had to adjust to playing with no fans and that gotten to him mentally.
After that game, we all assumed that was the case, that he will be back to playing at an All-star level that he is capable of, but again we were wrong. The following game he scored 15 points and shot 31.6% from the field.
In the Nuggets series he played better, but not good enough to help Kawhi to win the series as they gave up a 3-1 lead which many were shocked to see happen.
Okay so let’s take a step back in time when Paul George was going toe-to-toe with the Miami Heat in the 2013 playoffs. We saw a young player emerging into his own and become a top talent in the league.
His famous dunk against Birdman which will always be iconic. Many assumed that he would be the next to challenge LeBron for the East.
Then the brutal injury playing in a practice game for Team USA in 2014 came. Where he broke his leg and many assumed that he was done, his career was over, but no he proved everyone wrong.
Missing 76 games in his 8-month recovery from a broken leg. He slowly got back into becoming an All-star, one of the best 2 way guards in the game right now.
His game is smooth but very inconsistent. He can drop 60 on anybody, but his career high is 48 points. When he is hot he is hot, but when he is cold it’s ugly to watch.
He hasn’t played well in the playoffs since pre-injury. This year just sums it up that something is wrong with him playing in the postseason.
His best year has been with the Thunder in the 2018-2019 season. Averaging 28.6 points and shooting 43.8% and shooting 38.6%.from 3 point land.
With the Thunder, he averaged 24.7 PPG in the 2017-2018 postseason but got eliminated in the first round by the Jazz and rookie Donavan Mitchell.
The following year in the post-season with the Thunder he averaged 28.6 points, 43.6% FG, and 3 point percentage 31.9%, but got eliminated by Damian Lillard’s Blazers in 5 games.
In 9 NBA seasons, Paul George has only been able to get out of the first round 4 times. Two times going to Eastern Conference Finals losing to Miami Heat.
Final Take
As Paul George is one of my favorite players to watch in the NBA, he hasn’t shown up in the playoffs in recent years.
In this year’s playoffs, he looked like a shell of himself. He didn’t show up when his team needed him.
I believe he has the talent, but I question his mentality.
As many now will question was he worth all those picks, should he get traded now so the Clippers can get some value back for what was given up for Paul George…
This upcoming season for PG13 is very crucial. His reliability as a player will be questioned, his mindset, work ethic, and everything.
He needs to prove us wrong once again and show up in the post-season that he is the player that we all thought he was.
