The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 116-109 on Tuesday night.
Paul George emerged as the biggest star of the game, totaling 33 points on 13-of-18 shooting from the field, while also chipping in six rebounds, three assists and one steal.
When asked how he felt about his team’s performance after the fact, George seemed very happy.
“I thought it was great,” he said.
“I thought we got great shots. Time after time, we got the shots we wanted. Again, it’s being aggressive, we put the ball on the ground and we attacked and we found the open man.”
George also added that having a full offseason to rest up and get healthy has been huge for him.
“Last year coming into the season I didn’t get a chance to have a summer to work out,” he said.
“I basically was inactive for about three months, three to four months with no basketball whatsoever. And so I just really got thrown into the mix when the season came around last year. I had all season to train, to get back on the floor, to move around and work on my craft so it’s different coming into this season.”
New Clippers coach Ty Lue said after the game that he loved what he saw out of George, and he firmly believed that staggering him and Kawhi Leonard throughout the season would pose serious match-up problems for the opposition.
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 23, 2020
“This is him, I just think playing free, just playing his game,” Lue said.
“We need him to do that, but then it’s also good for us to be able to stagger him and Kawhi. He comes out early, when he comes back he’s playing against those second unit guys. I mean, PG against second-unit guys is gonna be tough to handle so you know right now, a good win, a great Clippers win for us,” he continued.
“But we got a lot more work to do to continue to keep building getting better, it’s going to be a process. This is a good start for us.”
Vanessa’s mom explains why she’s dragging her daughter’s name through the mud. https://t.co/2lJB3kLxhS
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 23, 2020
The Clippers will now get a couple of days off before facing off against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
Denver, of course, famously came back from a 3-1 deficit to knock the Clippers out of the playoffs last year.
Will George and Co. be able to keep their momentum going while simultaneously getting some measure of revenge over the Nuggets?
We’ll find out soon enough.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
