"Playing against the extra three" - Paul George reserves bold comments for referees following Clippers' 6th loss
Paul George and the LA Clippers continue to struggle in the James Harden era and are still winless after the arrival of the former NBA MVP. The Clippers lost to the reigning champions Denver Nuggets in their second game in the In-Season Tournament (108-111) and have now lost six straight games.
The West powerhouse has been winless since the Harden trade (0-5) and has won only three of its first 10 games.
After Tuesday's loss to the Nuggets, Paul George, who led all scorers with 35 points, was disappointed with the defeat, and vented his frustration about the referees, calling them out for the way they officiated the game.
"It’s tough, the adversity of playing against the extra three. I thought they were awful. It was bad. Five free throws is very disrespectful on this night. So many times I got hit on layups, three-pointers, it was constant. Jumpshots, getting hit, smacked on the forearm. I mean, it was poor, a poor job," Paul George said afterwards, via Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times.
"But again, we got to be able to beat these guys on their floor and not rely on that. Again, they calling something on one end, they got to call it on the other."
Denver shot 32 free throws in the game (25/32), compared to the Clippers' 24 (21/24). However, this was not the only reason for their defeat, as the Clippers are still struggling and trying to get on the same page after reshaping their roster.
"They’re still figuring it out. You can see it, they’ve got a lot of talents that overlap. When you have superstars, superstars can do a lot of things. They gave us a great punch tonight," Denver guard Reggie Jackson said about the Clippers' Big Four, via NBA.com.
Paul George says Clippers' Big Four needs to make sacrifices to win
Paul George opened up about the arrival of James Harden to the Clippers and the creation of a Big Four with Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard. The team is still adjusting to the new situation, but George has called for sacrifices if the franchise wants to win.
"We talked, we came together but I mean it’s nothing secretive or nothing that hasn’t been told. The fact of the matter is, all four of us are, you know, superstars, been superstars, great players. But there’s gotta be sacrifices, right? So that was the main conversation, addressing the elephant in the room – look there’s one basketball, y’all are going to have to figure out how to play on the floor and space and give each other opportunities," Paul George said during a recent episode of his podcast, via Sports illustrated.
"But he was like hey listen if you commit to that, I’ll lead you where you need to go. I just need you to commit to making sacrifices and it being one mission and one goal."
The Clippers will look to get back on track and snap their six-game losing skid Friday vs the Portland Trail Blazers in their third NBA In-Season Tournament game.