LA Clippers security guard Paul George said he was speaking to an arbitrator when things escalated with Phoenix Suns security guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker, leading to technical errors at George and Booker in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
After scoring 39 runs and hitting seven three-pointers to lead the Clippers to a 112-107 victory in Phoenix, George suggested he heard “a lot of chirping” related to his struggles in the bubble during the last postseason in Orlando. Florida.
“You have to ask them,” George said when asked what had happened to Paul and Booker. “I was talking to the referee, CP jumped in and it escalated from there. Like I said, I never spoke words, there was never an altercation, there was always peace when I was on the ground, but for whatever therefore reason, there is a lot of chirping and people just living in the past.
‘Last year was last year. I am in a new situation; I have a different mindset. You have to ask them all that hate stuff. I don’t know where that comes from. ‘
After he and Booker were hit with double technical fouls with 7 minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the game, George scored five runs and then found an open Nicolas Batum for a 3-pointer that sealed the Clippers’ victory with 11.9 seconds too. to go. Shortly before the technical fouls on George and Booker, the Suns had narrowed a 60-29 deficit to 96-94 with 9:10 left in the game.
“I had a tough year last year,” George said in his post-game, on-court interview with the Clippers broadcast. “People think it’s sweet man, people think it’s sweet because I was down. I haven’t heard of this in my 10 years in the league, but last year people lived off that last year. for answers. I’m ready to compete. I’m back. “
When asked what George had said to Booker that led to the technical fouls, the Suns security guard said he didn’t remember.
“It’s nothing, frankly,” Booker said after the Suns’ four-game winning streak was broken. “It is nothing.”
George starts the season strong and is only the third different player in NBA history to have at least 30 three-pointers in the first seven games of the season. This comes after an outspoken George revealed during a bubble shooting that he experienced depression while on the NBA campus in Orlando and away from loved ones. The Clippers would later give a 3-1 series lead and double digits in three consecutive losses to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs.
George and Kawhi Leonard struggled in Game 7 against Denver, with George shooting 4-for-16 and scoring 10 points, while Leonard finished 6-for-22 with 14 points.
Ahead of the playoffs in early August, Patrick Beverley and George conducted a back-and-forth trash talk session with Portland’s Damian Lillard on social media after Beverley mocked Lillard by pointing to his wrist and waving at him after the Blazers All-Star missed free throws late in a loss to the Clippers in the bubble.
Lillard later reminded reporters of what he had done to both George and Beverley in previous encounters and how he had sent George and the Oklahoma City Thunder home the previous postseason, sparking more comment on social media. That was more than a month before the Clippers’ playoffs collapsed against Denver.
George said he found motivation in the off-season through criticism of his game in the bubble.
“Absolutely,” said George. “And that’s why I came in focused this year. I heard all the noise and I’m using all that noise for motivation.”
While Leonard struggled through a 4-for-21 evening shooting against the Suns, George hit 6 of his first 9 three-point tries and had 32 points going into the fourth quarter. Booker scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth to help Phoenix nearly erase the 31-point deficit.
But George said he was surprised to hear talks to him.
“I’m not talking, I’m playing my game,” George said. “For whatever reason, it’s guys talking. I’ve never heard people talk [before], and it’s never pointed at me, but for some reason it’s a lot of mouth. And it is fine. I have to respond to that.
“I’m going through the fire. It’s fine. As long as we get to the top, we’ll win and I’ll help my team win. That’s all that matters. Save the rest, they can do whatever they want. I’ll be locked up and there it goes. more because I am at peace and at ease. “