IF your star shines in a basketball game, a win is almost as sure as night follows day.
Paul George just proved that. Yesterday, George fired a game-high 41 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and issued 6 assists to power the Los Angeles Clippers to a 116-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix, Arizona.
George is the Clippers’ remaining certified star after his fellow pillar Kawhi Leonard suffered a knee injury earlier that sidelined him for the rest of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
But Leonard’s absence for several games now only provoked George to play harder, grittier and tougher as the series plods on.
And, after painfully witnessing a heartbreaking Game Two loss that saw Phoenix snatch a weird 104-103 win from the jaws of defeat, George somehow resolved to move on and endeavor to get the job done no matter what.
Playing like there was no more tomorrow in the next game, George did everything he could and led the Clippers to a 106-92 victory in a crucial Game Three victory.
That bailed Los Angeles out from falling into a critical 3-0 hole.
And, although the Clippers failed to tie the best-of-seven series at 2-2 when endgame breaks didn’t go their way again in an 84-80 squeaker of a Game Four loss to the Suns, George valiantly fought elimination by literally owning Game Five with a grit sealed with zeal and sizzle.
After powering the Clippers yesterday to a 59-52 halftime lead from decisive margins of 22-10 and 44-30, George transformed from beast to a virtual wrecking ball in the final half for the pivotal win that reduced Phoenix’s lead to 3-2.
So devastating was George in the last two quarters that 30 of his total 41 points came in that span—his homestretch output more than half of the Clippers’ final half total of 57 points.
Firing duds twice from behind the arc in the first half, George banged home 3-of-4 threes in the last half behind a torrid 83-percent shooting from the floor. Not to mention 9 of his 12 rebounds came in the last two quarters.
Yet, amid his heroics, George was a picture of humility.
“We did this thing together,” George said. “My teammates helped me carry it through.”
Reggie Jackson had 23 points, Marcus Morris 22 and DeMarcus Cousins, subbing well for the injured Ivica Zubac, 15 in backing up George.
Jackson unleashed his threes in collaborating with George for a decisive 14-2 Clippers run after the Suns had closed in at 98-94, making Los Angeles’ 112-96 lead totally uncatchable from there.
Can George and the Clippers sustain their momentum when the Suns try to close out the series again in Thursday’s Game Six, this time in Los Angeles? Abangan!
THAT’S IT. The state-of-the-art SMC Sports Complex in Pasig City is finally finished. Equipped with three air-conditioned basketball courts, it is home to SMC’s three PBA teams—the Beermen, Hotshots and Gin Kings. But for now, the two-storey edifice is a vaccination center to at least 800 persons a day in SMC’s continuing effort to help the nation attain herd community by the end of the year. Said SMC president Ramon S. Ang: “Even if our basketball teams can’t use the facilities yet, it is serving a meaningful purpose, and that is, protecting lives during the pandemic.” Cheers!