LA Clippers guard Paul George said he was having a conversation with a referee when things escalated with Phoenix Suns guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker causing technical fouls on George and Booker on the fourth Sunday. .
After scoring 39 points and scoring seven triples to lead the Clippers to a 112-107 victory in Phoenix, George suggested he feel “a little bit” that had to do with his bubble fights over the past postseason in Orlando, Florida.
“You have to ask them,” George said when asked what happened to Paul and Booker. “I was talking to the referee, CP jumped and got up from there. Like I said, I’ve never had words spoken, there’s never been an altercation, there’s always peace when I’m on the ground, but for whatever reason, she has many breasts and people only live in the past.
“Last year was last year. I’m in a new situation; I’m in a different mindset. Any of these hate things, you have to ask them. I don’t know where this is coming from.”
After he and Booker received two technical fouls with 7 minutes left, 20 seconds left in the game, George scored five points and then found a Nicolas Batum open for a hat-trick that sealed the Clippers victory with 11 minutes left. , 9 seconds. Shortly before technical fouls on George and Booker, the Suns had reduced their deficit from 60-29 to 96-94 with 9:10 to go.
“I had a tough year last year,” George said in his postgame, track interview with the Clippers show. “People think it’s sweet, man, people think it’s sweet because I was down. I didn’t hear any of that during my ten years in the league, but last year, people who lived the last year. And I have to answer that. And I’m ready to compete. I’m back. “
When asked what George told Booker that caused the technical fouls, the Suns guard said he didn’t remember.
“It’s nothing, honestly,” Booker said after breaking the Suns ’four-win streak. “It’s nothing.”
George is off to a strong start to the season and is only the third different player in NBA history to have at least 30 triples during his team’s first seven games of the season. This comes after a candid George revealed during a bubble drop that he experienced some depression while on the NBA campus in Orlando and away from loved ones. The Clippers would later gain a 3-1 series advantage and double-digit advantage in three straight losses against the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs.
George and Kawhi Leonard fought in Game 7 against Denver, with George shooting 4 to 16 and scoring 10 points, while Leonard finished 6 to 22 with 14 points.
Before the playoffs in early August, Patrick Beverley and George took part in a back-and-forth session with Portland’s Damian Lillard on social media after Beverley teased Lillard by pointing his wrist at him and greeting him after Blazers All-Star missed the free throws late in a loss against the Clippers in the bubble.
Lillard later reminded reporters what he had done to both George and Beverley in past encounters and how he sent George and the Oklahoma City Thunder home the previous postseason, prompting more comments on social media. It was more than a month before the Clippers playoffs collapsed against Denver.
George said he found motivation in the offseason for criticism of his bubble play.
“Absolutely,” George said. “And that’s why I came in this year focused. I heard all the noise and I use it to motivate myself.”
With Leonard battling for a 4-on-21 shooting night against the Suns, George scored 6 of his first 9 3-point attempts and scored 32 points in the fourth quarter. Booker scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth to help Phoenix nearly clear the 31-point deficit.
But George said he was surprised to hear him speak.
“I don’t talk, I play my game,” George said. “For whatever reason, guys talk. I’ve never heard people talk [before], and it has never been directed at me, but for some reason it is very mouthy. And it’s okay. I have to play up to that.
“I’ll go through the fire. It’s okay. As long as we win, we win and I’m helping my team win. That’s all that matters. Save the rest, they can do whatever they want. Closed and more it’s about being at peace and quiet. quality “.