PHILADELPHIA, PA — Following the Philadelphia 76ers‘ Monday night loss to the Phoenix Suns, Paul George‘s season-long struggles were a central theme in the postgame conversations. From Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to Tyrese Maxey to Paul George himself, all gave their take on how they can help the major offensive addition rediscover himself this season.
This season, Paul George has played in 24 of a possible 34 games and is averaging just 16.2 points per game, his lowest since his injury-shortened 2014-15 season. George is also shooting just 41.4% from the field and 33.5% from three, both the second-lowest marks of his 15-year NBA Career, as is his 52.7% true shooting percentage.
Against Phoenix, George shot just 27.7% from the field. He failed to get to the free-throw line even once and despite a somewhat reasonable three-point percentage (33.3%), it was still well below what George has been over the majority of his career, even in recent years.
When asked about George’s shot quality in this game, Nick Nurse made sure to mention the nine-time All-Star’s contributions in every other area of the game.
“From a shooting standpoint, I think that [his shots] weren’t all super open tonight,” Nurse said in his post-game availability. “But a lot of them were, and a lot of ones that, like you said, career-wise, he’s going to normally take. I again say that he’s his presence out there is really good, his defense is really good, his rebounding is really good. There’s a lot of things to like, and I think the shooting will get to his career numbers as we go here.”
Tyrese Maxey echoed a similar statement in his postgame availability.
“He’s getting good looks,” Maxey said. “He’s had some good games. He had some breakout games, but he does so many other things. He guards, he rebounds, he’s in the gaps, he talks. So I think the shooter will come.”
“He came into the season feeling pretty good,” Maxey continued. “As far as training camp and stuff, kind of found the flow when he played in preseason games. And then you get hurt, that’s difficult. Come back in, you finally start to feel yourself a little bit. You get hurt again.”
Maxey also discussed how he can help George through this adjustment period.
“I’m just trying to get him open and run stuff for him and make sure he’s involved,” Maxey said. “Even early in the game, I’m sacrificing myself, trying to get downhill to score so I can try to get him going, even with Joel playing, get him going too. I think it feels good for those guys because I have the ball so much because I’m playing point guard, and I play a lot of minutes, so I know that I’m going to get my shots, and my shots are going to come… I am always going to try to get those guys shots, especially Paul.”
Nick Nurse also discussed the conversations he’s had with George throughout the season, centered on what he can do to help George find his rhythm.
“Yeah, we talk to him a little bit, always asking, ‘What can we do to help you? What can we do to get you going? Do you think the looks are good enough? [Are] there any other actions we can we can try to do?’ We’ve had some of those conversations as well. And you know he just kind of says no, we’re all right. But I’m gonna look at these tonight for sure, and sit down with him tomorrow and see what we can figure out.”
“We try to do some different things,” Nurse also said. “We posted him a couple times tonight. We land some pin downs for him a couple times tonight, a few other things. We are doing a variety of things.”
Paul George was later asked about those very same conversations with Nurse.
“Yeah, we were having those conversations about how to get good looks, quality looks,” George said to reporters. “And I got to read what’s going on out there. I think tonight, they did a great job of loading up. It seemed all my drives, all my catch-and-shoot situations like it was, it was highly loaded, and playing in crowds, I got to do a better job of kind of letting the game come to me.
“I have a mentality to try to get going and try to be aggressive,” George continued. “But some of the shots I’m taking are probably not the best looks within the offense, and that resulted in me pressing a little bit, so just let the game come to me.”
George was also asked about his left knee, which has already been injured twice this season, a hyperextension leading to a bone bruise in both cases. Specifically, George was asked if said knee was still bothering him.
“Yeah, but it’s no excuse,” George said. “I’m trying to work through it, but, you know, if I’m out on the floor, I’m fine at the end of the day.”
There remains much basketball to be played this season, but the Sixers and George cannot rest on that fact. They must find a way to solve George’s struggles together if the team is going to be able to secure somewhat solid seeding, even to make the playoffs at all. With the consistent inconsistency that is Joel Embiid’s availability, Paul George must simply contribute more. Defense, facilitating, and rebounding are great, but the Sixers need still more if they’re to salvage the season. They’ll need Paul George to score.
