Paul George And The Clippers Are Out For Revenge This Season.
The Los Angles Clippers entered the 2020-2021 season with a lot to prove and plenty of questions to answer due to their collapse in the Western Conference Semifinals. It was flat-out embarrassing for the team that to exit the playoff’s the way they did after being pegged one of the title favorites for the entire season. In the first year of what could only be a two-year partnership of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, who is a free agent after the 2021 season it was not a promising outlook. The team was ridiculed nonstop with the slander coming from every direction with most of it being pointed at Paul George due to his lackluster performance.
George and the Clippers both have already had a long history of huge collapses in the postseason and clutch moments. So entering the 2020-2021 season it was time to put an end to that. After the Clippers fired their Head Coach Doc Rivers, who George felt was the main culprit behind their 3-1 lead collapse they replaced him with Tyronn Lue, and the Clippers have been dominant this season and are getting even better as they head towards the playoffs and PG is leading the way. It’s time for the rest of the NBA and the media to know that the Clippers should be taken seriously.
Paul George Is Playing On An Unreal Level Post-All Star Break
Paul George has honestly gotten an unfair rap for his play in the postseason in recent years. I’m not saying that some of it isn’t warranted but it has gotten too far. He is one of the best forwards in the NBA on both sides of the ball and should still be respected as such. His new teammate Demarcus Cousins would agree that the Paul George Slander needs to stop because he is still one of the best players in the NBA and a great leader. Paul George committed to the Clippers long term & he is playing some of the best basketball of his career since he finished third in MVP voting in 2019.
I said Paul George was the most intriguing player on the Los Angles Clippers because there are times where he starts a season off scorching hot and cools down as the season goes on. But this year he has only gotten hotter after the All-Star break. During his last seven games played, George is averaging 32.9 PPG, 6.7 RPG,5.6 APG, and 1.6 SPG while also maintaining unreal efficiency from the floor shooting 47.5% from three on 8 attempts per game and 54.2% from the field. While it shouldn’t be expected for him to continue playing on such an unreal level, George looks motivated and has reminded everyone that he is a true superstar in this league. The Clippers are looking for revenge this season and George appears to be leading the way.
This Clipper’s Team Is Firing On All Cylinders At The Right Time
Not only has PG been on a tear as the season begins to wind down but the Clippers team as a whole have all elevated their game. Head Coach Tyronn Lue, once credited his mentor Phil Jackson as an influence on his coaching mentality. And Phil Jackson would agree the clippers are a true contender because they passed his 40 wins before 20 losses theory as they are currently 41-19. But even looking beyond the wins that the clippers have the stats have shown that they may be the best team in the league since All-Star Break.
The Clippers since the break have the best record and win percentage across the entire NBA at 18-5 and also have the best offensive rating in the league at 118.7. They are one of the best three-point shooting teams in NBA history already this season and since the break, they have led the league in 3P% at 42.2% on 34 attempts per game. Ten players on the Clippers are attempting over one three a game and shooting over 40% from deep. This team is flat out unstoppable on offense right now and still is an elite team on defense ranking 6th Post All-Star Break.
With key offseason and midseason additions such as Luke Kennard, Demarcus Cousins, Nicholas Batum, and Rajon Rondo all playing at a high level to complement their stars in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard there should be no slander towards the Clippers. This team is the hottest in the NBA right now and the rest of the league should be on notice that this Clippers team will not go out sad like in previous years. They are firing on all cylinders at the right time as the season winds down with only 11 games left to play.
