Paul George has proven he's too good a player to be ridiculed.
I felt bad when Paul George missed those free throws the other night, and I’m glad he and the Clippers were able to bounce back in Game 3. Because Paul George is too good a player to constantly be made fun of, even if you don’t want to call him 'Playoff P'.
At some point, NBA discourse devolved into slandering any star who lost a high leverage game and George eventually became an easy target, especially given his role as a number two. This isn’t to say he hasn’t had his bad moments and poor performances, however, it’s not like all his big shots have hit the side of the backboard either.
With Kawhi Leonard out, George has gotten a chance to remind people why he was once the best player on a contending team with the Pacers. He responded by helping his team close out the Jazz and has averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists since Leonard went down. Hardly the type of performances that deserve to be clowned.
He’s also scored at least 20 points in all 16 games since the postseason started joining Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade as the only players in the last 20 years to do that. And oh yeah, he leads everyone in playoff points and in minutes played...the latter by a mile.
The Clippers have needed every bit of it in order to climb out of two 0-2 holes and pick up the franchise’s first-ever Western Conference Finals win.
So, whether you want to use the playoff moniker for him or not, Paul George has certainly done enough to retire 'Pandemic P' forever.