After the playoff fights in the NBA bubble, LA Clippers goalkeeper Paul George said he must return “with revenge” this season to address the fact that “people have seen weakness” in him.
An extremely motivated George continued his hot start to the season with 8 of 14 shots and 26 points to lead the Clippers on a 138-100 Sacramento Kings route to the Golden 1 Center on Friday night.
“I’m coming back with revenge,” George said of his mindset that came into play this season after he and the Clippers brought a 3-1 series lead in the second round to Denver last postseason. “I didn’t like it, not so much the noise and everything around me [the way last season ended], but only the fact that people saw weakness.
“And I had to address that. I had to answer that. That fed me. That put me in a place where I wanted to go back and be myself again.”
George told teammates entering the season that he will return to the form that helped him finish third in the MVP voting during the 2018-19 season while in Oklahoma City.
“P is playing at a high level right now,” said Marcus Morris Sr., the Clippers striker. “Which we all knew he would do. I feel like he has an MVP season. And he told us that before the start of the year, he will come with him.”
George records career highs of 50.3% from the field, 51.5% from the 3-point distance and 91.8% from the free throw line. He made 4 of 8 sorties against the Kings. George has won four or more 3 in 10 of the 12 games this season.
George said he told teammates he would return to his MVP form this season because he had no choice.
“After the tough year last year, it was the only way I could respond,” George said. “I immediately went to a dark place, where I just had to improve. That was the only thing I had in mind and the only thing was to improve.
“It’s been almost two years since my shoulder surgery … So I’m just in a healthier state, I’m in a healthier place.”
Last season, George struggled as he came out of two shoulder surgeries after the 2018-19 season. During the NBA replay in the ball, George suffered the worst shooting crisis he experienced in the playoffs, going 10-for-47 combined in Games 2, 3 and 4, including missing 21 of 25 attempts behind the line. 3 points in the first round against Dallas.
George admitted that he experienced bouts of depression and anxiety while in the bubble in Orlando, Florida, because he could not be with his family and loved ones. Then the Clippers crashed in the second round at the Nuggets.
While George and Kawhi Leonard combined to pull just 10 for 38 and scored a combined 24 points in the Game 7 loss, George was the one to take a ton of heat from the critics. His 3-point corner kick, which hit the side of the panel in the fourth quarter, symbolized Clippers’ fall.
Not only was George being fried on social media, but he even heard trash talking this season from opponents like Chris Paul of Phoenix and Devin Booker during a Jan. 3 game when George and the two Suns guards exchanged words. George said he heard “a lot of chirping and people living only in the past.”
George chose to let his game speak, on average 25.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals to go with the best shooting percentages in his career.
“He was able to train this summer,” Leonard said. “Last summer he was limited, he could probably shoot only 10 shots a day or so with shoulder surgery. He comes out determined and focused.”
“I can’t predict the future,” Leonard added if he saw that coming when the two trained in the offseason. “But all I could say is that he put his mind to his work, and when I started working with him, many of his things were like a kind of simulated game, working on passes, reading, and just translating over a little too much “.