2024-03-06 07:06:29
Text/Ken
When talking about Paul George’s peak moments with the Los Angeles Clippers, the iron-clad Superman in the 2021 playoffs can never be forgotten. After Kawhi Leonard fell, he averaged 29.6 points, 11 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. He is the Clippers’ only remaining scoring ace, core ball handler, and a key rebounder in the small ball lineup. He played 41.6 minutes, across the sea and across the screen. You can feel the tired body. Despite this, George still led the Clippers to the only two victories in the Western Conference Championship Game in team history.
In the past two or three years, the Clippers have spent a lot of time waiting for Leonard to return from injury. This has also forced the Clippers, which is supposed to have a dual core, to rely on George, giving them a lot of ball rights that they have never had in their career, and pursuing a positionless basketball. Philosophy, the Clippers have long ignored the gap in point guards and allowed George to be the main ball handler. However, there is still a significant difference between being able to control the ball and being able to control the ball. Although he recorded a career-best 5.7 assists in the 2021-22 season, he also left a worst 4.1 turnovers. I once thought that the 2021 playoff version of George would return one day. With Leonard’s return and new players, it would be able to change the original George’s high turnover rate and physical exhaustion. But in fact, this may not be Paul George. The best way to use players.
After the trade deadline of the 2022 season, George was the first person to say that “the Clippers need a traditional ball handler.” Not only did he want to recruit his good brother Russell Westbrook, but more importantly, George also knew that he really We can’t continue fighting like this.
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This season is not just Westbrook, the Clippers also welcome James Harden, the strongest point guard in team history after Chris Paul, finally freeing George from holding the ball as a substitute. He was supposed to be the beneficiary of the trade, but he was pulling out a lot of balls. Quan then began to adapt poorly. He tried to become a supporting role focusing on defense and rebounding, deliberately reducing his desire to take shots and his rhythm. As a result, in the first three games with Harden, he only hit 12 goals in 43 shots. Ty Lue was so angry that he yelled at him: “You “He’s not a glue player,” because the Clippers need George to understand that no matter what, he is one of the dual cores of this team and a player who should have unlimited shooting rights.
After only scoring 8 points against the Dallas Mavericks on November 11, George scored 26 points and 35 points respectively on the 13th and 15th of the same month. In January, the Clippers began to gradually figure out the winning formula, one of which was to let George “releases the ball.”
The Clippers finished 11 games and lost 3 in January, a record that was almost impossible to criticize, and jumped into the first half of the Western Conference. When everyone focuses on the chemical effect brought by Harden, they often ignore that during this period, the Clippers felt the hottest. Not Leonard, but George. He scored 24.3 points with a 49% shooting rate. He changed from a frequent ball-handling style in previous seasons to more like a Green Leaf shooter. He said goodbye to organizational work. His assists dropped to only 2.4 times in a single month, and 48% of his shots were 46.3% of the shots within two seconds were completely without dribbling (for reference: the proportion of zero dribble shots within two seconds in 2022-23 was about 30%), and the average number of touches per game dropped to 2019-20 A new low since the beginning of the year, only 56.5 times, and the past three seasons have been more than 68 times.
Judging from George’s usage rate this season, 26.7% is also the lowest since joining the Clippers. However, he has maintained an average of 22.2 points per game and created an effective field goal percentage of 55.1, which is second only to the 2020-21 season in his career. %. In addition, he also has a career-high two-point assist rate of 58.8% (excluding only 6 games due to injury in 2014-15 with the Pacers), which is much higher than the average of about 40% in the past few years. To put it simply, This season, George was so happy being fed the ball for the first time in his career.
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Not holding the ball does not mean that George loses his scoring ability, but it opens up another offensive mode. When Harden takes the ball away, George can move more freely. As soon as the opponent chooses to double-team Leonard or tilt the defense too much to one side, George can immediately move over to absorb the defense for his teammates or use it to attack. Score points from outside. Not to mention other skills, at least in Catch & Shoot, his accuracy is top-notch. This season’s effective field goal percentage is 63.5%, ranking seventh in the league (the screening standard is more than 100 shots), only slightly behind Kevin Durant by about 0.4%. In the past, George complained that former Clippers head coach Doc Rivers always used him as Ray Allen, but with his shooting coordination, release height, speed and accuracy, every coach will definitely draw several sets of shooter tactics.
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The release of the ball is not a bad thing for George, because the most reduced offensive mode is “Pick & Roll Ball Handler” (ball-holding offense after pick-and-roll). This happens to be George’s inefficient offensive method, averaging only 3.5 points per game this season. shots, accounting for about 17.3%. In the past two years, they were 6.9 times/29.6%, and 9.5 times/35.8%. As an alternative, George got more fixed-point jumpers (accounting for 21.8% of the total shots, a new high since statistics were available in 2015). ) and C&S (averaging 5.4 shots per game this season, a career high), to give full play to his talents as a perimeter sniper. At least judging from the statistics, his scoring efficiency in C&S in recent years has been far better than that of Pick & Roll Ball Handler.
Due to the extremely threatening outside firepower, defenders always dare not get too far away from George. This creates opportunities to cut into the penalty area. Especially this season, the Clippers frequently arrange Harden as a passer in the elbow area, allowing Leonard to , George’s cross-screening and empty-handed running, with the traction of the two stars, they can easily create offensive opportunities, which is also one of the keys to the improvement of the two stars’ shooting percentage this season.
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In terms of offensive form, Leonard is like a robot that repeatedly executes a single command. There are not many routines, but it is extremely accurate. George plays the role of the Clippers’ offensive kaleidoscope. His trump card is his smooth shooting mechanism and coordination. He can stop quickly after dribbling and step back from mid-range. This is supplemented by his height advantage, which is almost the fourth position. difficult for defenders to block. If he encounters a slow-moving center forward, George has a ball-holding ability that is better than that of ordinary forwards. He can dribble from left to right to destroy the defender’s center of gravity and wait for opportunities to cut in. In addition, he can take large strides and above the level. From this angle, even if his physical fitness is not as good as before, he can still find opportunities to strike in the chaos. This season, he can score 1.05 points per single play, ranking ninth in the league (players averaging more than 3 singles per game), and his efficiency is better than Kyrie Irving, Zion Williamson and others.
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Perhaps his teammate Leonard is too perverted on the defensive end. Many people forget that George is also a first-class defensive player. He has been among the top leaders in Deflections (ball interference) in the past three years. This year, although Kawhi was beaten by Kawhi on average per game. He was surpassed 3 times, but he also ranked 15th in the league with 2.8 times and ranked fifth in the league with 1.6 interceptions per game.
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If Westbrook’s sacrifice is transformation and Harden’s relegation to the second line, then George is giving up on his all-around star side and will never return to the glory of 2021. He spends more energy on running positions and off-ball threats, becoming the most powerful shooter who can best liberate the Clippers’ sense of space.
However, the Clippers are also in trouble due to George’s instability and injury. After a crazy month, he began to miss games intermittently due to knee and meniscus soreness, and his touch declined rapidly. In February, he averaged only 17.9 points per game and shot 30.4% from the three-point line, entering a low ebb with the Clippers’ record. . For a long time, George has been difficult to say as a stable top star. Not only does he have hot and cold shooting in the regular season, but he also has extremely contrasting performances in the key playoffs, just like in 2021, and also like in 2020. In the bubble circle competition, due to mental illness under long-term isolation, he made a dismal 10-for-47 shooting in three consecutive playoff games.
With the additions of Harden and Westbrook, George’s job is undoubtedly easier. Can he become the offensive Swiss knife the Clippers need in the playoffs with all-round skills? It is not only about the contract renewal this summer, but also closely related to the disbandment of this team and the next voyage.
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