LOS ANGELES — So, what did he miss?
Ninety-seven days, 43 games – and 19 wins, 24 losses and an arena name change – later, Paul George returned to the court on Tuesday night, as the Clippers took on the Utah Jazz, starting beside Reggie Jackson, Ivica Zubac, Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris Sr.
Before Tuesday, the seven-time All-Star forward’s last game was Dec. 22, when Crypto.com Arena still was Staples Center. The Clippers ruled out George on Christmas with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right shooting elbow.
Without knowing if or when he would return, the Clippers held on as best they could without him – as well as his co-star, five-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard, and newly acquired scorer Norman Powell.
“We definitely overachieved and we understand that,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, whose don’t-quit squad managed to stay afloat in the play-in race, and also to pull off three comebacks of 24 points or more without an All-Star in the lineup.
“The things that the guys in the locker room have done this year has been phenomenal.”
That said, Lue was thrilled to be reincorporating one of his most talented players into the mix, even with a minutes limit and tempered first-day-back expectations.
“We’re not gonna ride him too hard,” Lue said. “It’s gonna be a process for him, he’s been out three months, a little bit over three months. It’s gonna be an adjustment period, but it’s just good to have him on the floor and just good to have that energy around the team the last couple of days.”
George’s return figures to benefit the Clippers offensively – not only was George averaging a team-best 24.7 points per game when he was sidelined, but he was also attracting a lot of the defensive attention that has since been trained on Jackson, Morris and Luke Kennard.
Lue said he also anticipated that George’s rebounding prowess – his 7.1 board-per-game average remains the second-highest on the team – will help, considering the Clippers rank 21st (44) in rebounds and 27th (9.1) in offensive rebounds per game.
“If you go back to the playoffs last year, he was getting (15), 16 rebounds and so he’s definitely gonna help our rebounding out, which is key,” Lue said. “Which we been struggling in all year. Defensive end, pretty solid, but just rebounding the basketball, we haven’t been great, so he’s gonna help us with that for sure.
“And then, like you said, have a lot of switchable parts on the floor, with PG, Marcus and Nico, so we’ll see how it works out.”
Maybe most important of all: The PG bump.
“It was time,” Lue said. “We needed a little jolt and guys are getting worn down, guys are playing more minutes, guys are playing out of position, so having PG back, really helps that out.”
And after scaling back his veterans’ minutes over the past 10 games or so as the Clippers settled pretty comfortably into the No. 8 seed and awaited George’s return, Lue said his team now is primed to sprint through the final seven games of the regular season.
“Now we’re able to ramp those guys back up,” Lue said. “Because now they gotta play more minutes with PG, so we can get our flow, get our rotations. It’s kind of backward from what you usually do. Late in the season, you usually rest guys, but our guys gotta play now because PG’s coming back and trying to get acclimated.”
