Origin 8 scout 29er series#

Playoff P was properly introduced in Game 1 of that series. It's an out-of-body person where I just lock in and put myself in a different zone.' The context around the moniker has gotten lost over time - George was primarily referring to taking on the assignment of guarding the other team's best scorer - but George might be as much to blame for that as anyone else.ДЄsked what Playoff P looks like, he said, 'It's a fun guy to watch. 'Y'all ain't met Playoff P yet, huh?' Playoff P was born in Oklahoma City, but Paul George and Russell Westbrook never reached the second round together. He tilted his head, grinned and in his smooth baritone delivered a quip that has followed him since. George was asked about shifting his responsibilities to guarding then-rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell. It was something of an off-handed comment the day before the Thunder opened the 2018 postseason against the Utah Jazz. THE NICKNAME WAS first uttered in a small room with about 15 reporters huddled around George. If the Clippers are going to win a championship, they need Playoff P, and not just some of the time. Within the superduo in L.A., George isn't some complementary piece. But Leonard is certified by championships, a two-time Finals MVP and immune from appraisal. In Los Angeles, George is the co-star on one of the most well-lit NBA stages there is, supposedly on equal star footing as Leonard. He stepped into a brighter light in OKC on a perceived superteam of his own, but it was under the protection of Russell Westbrook's perpetual examination. George was the franchise in Indy, shouldering the blame but always among the plucky small-market overachievers raging against the dying light of a Miami Heat superteam. George joined Leonard in Los Angeles to provide some insulation from that fine margin of error. 'I think people get so caught up with what other people think. Historically, George has been streaky in the playoffs with the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, playing dominant, overwhelming two-way basketball in one game to follow it with a shooting dud the next. He did other things, like play quality defense, rebound and pass, but the touch left him and it was Kawhi Leonard who drove LA to the second round. In Game 6, as the Clippers advanced, George started hot and then cooled, finishing with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. In Game 5, he was 7-of-12 on contested shots. George scored 35 points in 25 minutes, more than he scored in the 115 minutes of the previous three games combined.

Whether it was the good game that brought him back or the mental reset leading to the good game, George played with the kind of overwhelming skill that helped drown the Mavs 154-111. 'I underestimated mental health, honestly,' George said after Game 5. Stuck within the NBA's bubble on the campus of Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, George had to find his own way out with his support system thousands of miles away. The 48 hours leading up to that first shot were difficult, and in George's words, dark. NBA experts' picks for Clippers-Nuggets and Lakers-Rockets in the West semis.It was the basketball body language version of 'Yep, that's good.' George called out his assignment and scrambled to pick up his man. Piling up bricks can amplify everything.ДЄs George's feet hit the floor, the ball was making its way through the net and he was confidently already fading back toward the defensive end.

The pressure of the postseason brings a weight to every possession and every failure.

Origin 8 scout 29er series#

The shooting woes George endured in the first four games of the series - particularly Games 2 through 4 - were a bizarre, unsettling mixture of bad luck and bad shot selection. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to know what Paul George was thinking the moment the ball left his hand, but it would be understandable if he was holding his breath.Д¬onsidering his very public shooting slump to that point in the LA Clippers' opening-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, George's first shot - a smooth, perfectly arching 17-foot jumper at the top of the key on LA's first possession of Game 5 - might have been worth more than the two points it scored.