Paul George has been in an offensive groove over the last week-and-a-half, winning Player of the Week last week. When the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers took center-stage in LA, not even the pesky defender in Patrick Beverley could slow him down.
George finished Wednesday’s win over the Lakers with 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field en route to a 114-101 victory. It was his sixth consecutive game with at least 28 points on 50 percent shooting, which has yielded five wins and one loss to the best team in the Western Conference in the Utah Jazz.
Patrick Beverley tried to body up Paul George early in the game. He then got into George’s face and began trash talking. The two players are extremely close from their time with the Clippers, as evidenced by Beverley being one of the handful of players invited to George’s wedding in Italy this past summer.
The message from head coach Tyronn Lue was simple to shoot over the smaller Beverley.
“We just told PG just catch it and shoot it right on top of him,” Clippers head coach Tyronn said. “Don’t wrestle with him, don’t get it. Just shoot right on top of him. We know Pat is a feisty defender. He wants you to put the ball down so he can poke at it, try to steal it and strip it. You’re six-foot-nine, just raise up and shoot. And that’s what PG did. And so that kind of changed, like I said, changed our night, changed PG’s night offensively as well.”
George took his coach’s advice and ran with it, setting the tone for himself and his Clippers teammates by hitting a couple of jumpers over the Lakers’ best defender.
“At that point, it was just getting to a spot and raise up,” George said. “We always have this saying of, ‘he’s not gonna grow,’ and that’s the case. Just get to a spot with Pat. He’s really good if you dance and you give him a chance to creep up and crowd you, but you be explosive one direction, have success there. So that’s all I did. I didn’t get into the battle and fighting, playing his game. I thought I just kept it simple and kept it efficient.”
Paul George on the Patrick Beverley battle:
“We always have this saying of 'he's not gonna grow,' and that's the case. He's really good if you dance and you give him a chance to creep up and crowd you… I didn't get into the battle. I thought I just kept it simple & efficient.” pic.twitter.com/AwpJ8cdfbd
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) November 10, 2022
"Overall, I think I'm just getting stronger and stronger… I'm playing at a high level. I'm enjoying the game, I'm enjoying this process with the guys and I'm ready to go to war for T-Lue."
Paul George on how he feels so far this season pic.twitter.com/F89yVgvud4
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) November 10, 2022
Paul George has been in an offensive groove over the last week-and-a-half, winning Player of the Week last week. When the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers took center-stage in LA, not even the pesky defender in Patrick Beverley.
Including Wednesday night’s 114-101 victory, the LA Clippers have now won nine consecutive games against the Lakers and 34 of the last 41 games as well.