The Los Angeles Clippers took a huge 128-117 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, but the win wasn't as comfortable as the final score would suggest. The Thunder were able to take a 115-114 lead late in the final frame, but that only served to set up Paul George's late-game heroics.

George's final 3:21 of playing time was a thing of beauty. He converted a difficult and-one layup to give the Clippers back the lead, made a stepback three right over Luguentz Dort to extend the lead to six, nailed yet another three over Dort to stretch the lead to nine, and just to put the icing on the cake, he stole the ball from Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and punctuated the game with a one-handed reverse jam.

Upon the addition of James Harden, Paul George has settled into more of a support role where he doesn't need to create much offense for himself and for others. He is able to take advantage of the space Harden and Kawhi Leonard afford him, making the Clippers a legitimate championship contender when George seizes the reins the way he has. Nonetheless, Shaquille O'Neal wants George and the Clippers to be more confident in their chances of competing for a title.

“I would've liked him to say, ‘We can win a championship.' When asked the question of how far you  can go, I would've liked him to say, ‘We have all the ingredients to win a championship,'” O'Neal said on the TNT Tuesday Postgame Show.

Initially, Paul George answered the question of how far they can go by saying that the Clippers are in the “driver's seat”, which means that they control their destiny and they can go as far as they want to go. George was basically implying what Shaquille O'Neal wanted him to say, but perhaps the four-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer wanted the Clippers star to be more straightforward.

Whatever the case may be, when the Clippers are clicking like this, they are always going to be tough to stop. What they need heading into one of the most crucial stretches of the season is to remain healthy, as that remains their biggest roadblock when it comes to competing for the Larry O'Brien trophy.