The story of Playoff P begins in April 2018. Then a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Paul George asked the now-infamous question to reporters just a day before OKC begin their NBA Playoff series against the Utah Jazz.
“Y’all ain’t met Playoff P yet, huh?”
Reporters chuckled while George remained stone-faced.
Playoff P went out and scored 36 points with a career-high eight three-pointers made. George was also rock solid on the defensive end, locking up Utah star guard Donovan Mitchell and even taking a couple turns sticking their big man Rudy Gobert.
George went on to average 25 points that postseason for the Thunder and followed it up with 29 points per game the following playoffs. He was traded to the Clippers in July 2019 and after endless months of expectations and hype, Playoff P is now basically on the milk carton.[[ad:athena]]
Sure, he poured in 27 points in Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks, but his production has drastically decreased in every game since the opener. We’re talking 14 points, 11 points and 9 points respectively. And it’s not like the looks and shots aren’t there. George hoisted 47 shots in the aforementioned three games – problem is, he only made 10 of them.
Usually, when the best basketball players in the world have a few rough outings, they have that beach ball game. You know, the game where it seems like they’re shooting a beach ball and the hoop is the ocean. George is desperately due for one of those.
It’s just simple mathematics really. How much longer can a career 42 percent shooter only shoot 29 percent from the floor? To make matters worse, George has reaaaaally struggled from downtown. He’s a career 35 percent shooter from three in the playoffs. This year, that number is down to a staggering 22 percent.
“Just let him keep shooting,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers told reporters on Monday. “We clearly got to get him more shots. He needs to shoot 20-plus times, he needs to get the ball up in the air. And he will. I feel very confident about PG because I always have.”
Sign me up for that, Doc.
I’m betting on a bounceback performance from Playoff P. Stay aggressive, attack the lane, maybe get to the foul line. There’s nothing a scorer needs more than to see a couple uncontested gimmes go straight through the cup.
The betting markets have his points prop anywhere from 22.5 to 23.5 tonight. I see mostly 23. Let’s roll with that. George is too talented to slump this long.
Play on Paul George Over 23 points (-110).
