Return of Paul George sparks defensive uptick for Clippers

Glancing at a field rating from his group’s victory in opposition to New Orleans late Sunday night time, a happy smile crossed Tyronn Lue’s face.

“Zero makes an attempt from three for Valanciunas,” the Clippers’ coach stated, nonetheless studying the paper in entrance of him. “How ‘bout that?”

In three earlier matchups in opposition to the Clippers this season, Pelicans heart Jonas Valanciunas had operated at will, making 14 of his 30 three-pointers, even when his hazard behind the arc was on the scouting report. However Sunday, when the Clippers defeated the Pelicans 119-100 to clinch the West’s eighth-best report, Valanciunas was unable to interrupt free for a single three-point try.

To Lue, Valanciunas’ 0-for-0 line within the stat sheet represented multiple matchup gone proper — it additionally mirrored the renewed affect of Paul George.

Within the three video games George has performed since getting back from an elbow damage that price him three months, Lue has observed an uptick within the group’s defensive mentality, notably to start out video games. With 4 comebacks of 25 factors or larger this season, the Clippers have proved they’ll deal with a late rally, but counting on resilience is a shaky components for postseason success, and George stated he challenged teammates upon his return in opposition to Utah to take the following step towards their playoff preparation by realizing the sport plan and being sharp in implementing it from the beginning.

When George backed up his problem by instantly ripping away the dribbles of Utah’s Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell, it started a trickle-down impact, teammates realizing they wanted to match George’s depth with the postseason looming.

“Particularly in our first recreation in opposition to Utah, first quarter he had just a few steals to start out the sport, just a few strips, while you see your No. 1 man go laborious like that on protection you’ve bought to comply with the lead,” heart Ivica Zubac advised The Instances. “And that’s it. PG’s our chief on the market and he’s diving for the balls, he’s giving 100% effort every possession. There’s nothing else you’ll be able to actually do, you’ve gotta do the identical.”

The Clippers (39-40) broke open Sunday’s win within the second quarter by holding New Orleans scoreless for practically 5 minutes and permitting simply 13 factors.

“Our protection hasn’t been nearly as good as we’d like it to be, however the previous few video games, we’ve been in a position to step our protection up, in order that’s been nice,” Lue stated.

In a season the place the Clippers have repeatedly performed short-handed, there have been nights after they did focus in however couldn’t maintain it due to jumbled rotations crammed with gamers unfamiliar with each other. Reinserting George into the lineup “makes it simpler on everybody else,” Zubac stated.

“I really feel like we have been doing it earlier than however some nights we have been lacking guys and it was robust and generally we didn’t have sufficient,” he stated. “It simply didn’t present. Now with PG, we good.”

Greater than rejuvenating the Clippers’ defensive potential, it has additionally infused a confidence that belies their report. And with guard Norman Powell figuring out on the Crypto.com Enviornment courtroom earlier than tipoff Sunday within the newest step towards his restoration from a fractured foot bone, ahead Marcus Morris Sr. stated they don’t really feel like a typical eighth-seed. Ought to Powell and Kawhi Leonard, whose return has not been dominated out, come again, the Clippers would develop into one of many postseason’s most fascinating groups.

They’re already some of the assured.

“We’re a assured group and we really feel we are able to match up and play and beat anyone,” George stated. “I feel it was simply robust for them going via that stretch with out me within the lineup. Like I’ve been saying it’s simply loads of guys that needed to carry and tackle totally different positions, totally different roles and extra stuff on their plate that they needed to play via and provides.

“However I believed they did an amazing job of managing our season up thus far. However we’re a assured group and I feel me coming again undoubtedly offers our locker room simply extra of that assurance that we are able to put collectively one other nice postseason.”

The second-seeded Grizzlies have been a matchup nightmare for the Clippers all season with their bully ball model that punishes the Clippers contained in the paint. The Clippers have performed laborious in opposition to top-seeded Phoenix and draw confidence from taking the Suns to 6 video games in final 12 months’s Western Convention last, regardless of enjoying with out Leonard and with Zubac and Morris hobbled and George, Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum operating on fumes.

The fluidity and lack of rust proven in George’s 34-point, four-steal efficiency in his first recreation again from damage to spark a 25-point comeback in opposition to Utah shocked even teammates. Like their coach, the gamers stated they took it as an indication larger than just a few numbers in a field rating. If George had returned all-business, he would anticipate the identical from them with the postseason looming.

“Simply being a vet himself, and realizing tips on how to hold his physique in the suitable situation and realizing tips on how to keep mentally into it and being across the group, that simply confirmed me he’s a frontrunner,” Morris stated.

And does that present added confidence coming into the playoffs?

“Hell yeah,” Morris stated. “Hell. Yeah.”