Paul George says being sick, not Kawhi Leonard, led to bad shooting night
The Spurs continued to roll with a 106-92 victory over the Spurs on Monday. During the game, Paul George had his worst shooting game of the season, making just one of his 14 attempts.
At times, George was matched up with Kawhi Leonard, last season’s winner of the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. However, after the game, the two-time all-star downplayed the impact of Leonard and pointed out being under the weather as a contributing factor to his poor shooting on the evening.
“Even tonight I felt weak,” George told The Indianapolis Star. “Felt I was going to throw up at times. It’s still hanging around for whatever reason.”
“I mean, I missed some shots I’ve been making all season long,” George said. “I had wide open looks I just couldn’t get to go down. Kawhi wasn’t even in the play. I just couldn’t make them.”
George has very much resembled the version of himself we saw before his horrific injury while on duty with Team USA so far this season. He returned last season to play in six games, but it was understandable the 25-year-old didn’t look quite like himself.
This season, George has reclaimed his place as one of the better all-around players in the league and one who is supremely talented offensively. However, even the best players have an off night from time to time. It’s part of the game. It happens. In this case, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel sides with his star player.
“It wasn’t all Kawhi Leonard,” Vogel said. “He got a lot of good looks from 3, good looks in the pull-up game and a lot of those plays where there was contact at the rim and they were letting both teams play. It was a tough night.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising to see both Vogel and George go a route other than saying Leonard contributed to George’s bad game. Even though, I’m pretty sure Leonard had atleast a little bit to do with it.
