None of this is going to play well in Philadelphia.
Without an injured Joel Embiid, Philadelphia fell at home Friday night to the lottery-bound New Orleans Pelicans (without a suspended Zion Williamson) in a game where, for stretches, Paul George had to play the five. George was honest after the loss, and that started with admitting he doesn’t like to play center.
“It’s different. I’m used to scrapping and running around and chasing and fighting through screens,” George said from the podium. “To be honest, I’m bored playing the five. It just doesn’t do enough for me. But, I think, being mindful of my ability to clog the middle and kind of help, cut off passing lanes and driving lanes and kind of battle with the bigs, is what Nick [Nurse, 76ers coach] sees in that style. But again, I enjoy chasing the little guys and matching up against wing offensive players.”
That quote is going to get blown out of proportion. George would prefer to be back on the wing — and Philadephia should want him on the wing. That’s why they paid him big money to come in this season.
However, even when on the wing, George has been arguably the biggest disappointment in the NBA this season. He has fallen from an All-Star for the Clippers, averaging 22.6 points a game with an impressive 61.3 true shooting percentage, to 16.5 points per game and a well below league average 52.9 true shooting percentage this season. Against New Orleans, he had 25 points on 10-of-22 shooting.
If the postseason started today, Philadelphia wouldn’t even make the play-in in the East. George said it was not time for the 15-21 76ers to panic, but the team needs to start playing with a level of desperation not seen consistently this season (quote via NBC Sports Philadelphia).
“It’s not panic mode, but there’s sort of a desperation that we need to start to play with,” George said. “And look at every game like it matters. From this point forward, every game matters. I think we do have to approach it in that manner, because it’s not going to get any easier. We lost tonight. Not going to discredit how they played tonight, but it’s a team we should’ve beat. And we’ve got (the Knicks) coming in, we’ve got (the Thunder) coming in. … We’ve got to put teams like this away early. That’s a team you’ve got to beat if you want to compete to be one of the teams standing in the end. These are the games that we put teams away.”
One might argue that every game in November and December mattered, too, but better late than never. That desperation can start Sunday night in Orlando against a scrappy Magic team that has Paolo Banchero back. George might have to play some center in that game, but Embiid is listed as questionable and appears close to a return from a foot sprain that has kept him out for three games.