Paul George needs to step up for the Clippers this season
The Los Angeles-based team suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday night against the Phoenix Suns at Crypto.com Arena.
When healthy, Paul George has proven to be one of the most dominant players in the NBA, but his lack of consistency prevents him from being amongst the candidates to win the MVP award each season. PG started the season scoring only 15 points in the 103-87 win against the Lakers last week and in the next game against the Kings, George became the second-oldest player in Clippers franchise history to have a 40-point game.
The first one to achieve that milestone was Dominique Wilkins, who scored 42 against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1994. George has a lot of ups and downs that also prevents him from being the No 1. player with the Clippers and on Sunday night he only scored 16 points in the 112-95 defeat against the Phoenix Suns at Crypto.com Arena
PG needs to be the one
“He’s a great player, and so you got to be aggressive and do what you do. You can’t take a backseat. You got to be aggressive,” said Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue last week after defeating Sacramento. So a great part of the success they have this season will be behind the performances of Paul George on the court because Kawhi Leonard is coming back from a torn ACL injury and it will take him some time to reach peak form.
The Suns are one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference this season, so this was a good test for the Clippers and it was the moment for PG to step up in a big game. Once again Paul George had a quiet night and as a results the Clippers suffered their first defeat of the season and now they will turn the page quickly because they go on the road to play against the Thunder on 25 October.