Paul George on playoff shooting struggles: ‘I’m no James Harden’

George has shot 7-of-33 (21.2%) over his last two games and seemed to be making the point that he’s not at Harden’s level as a scorer.

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Mired in a rough two-game shooting slump, All-Star forward Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers clarified late Friday that he’s not James Harden. Whether that was meant as a compliment of the Houston Rockets star or some degree of criticism was not immediately clear.

George has shot just 7-for-33 (21.1%) in his last two games, including 3-for-18 on 3-pointers (16.7%). The Clippers are facing Dallas — and while Los Angeles is up 2-1 in the series, the Mavs aren’t exactly known as a great defensive team (No. 18 this season in defensive rating).

George did have nine rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in Friday’s win by the Clippers (box score), and he was asked postgame how much he prided himself on doing things outside of scoring.

This was the response by ‘Playoff P,’ as he once referred to himself:

I’m no James Harden. … That’s not my knack, to just shoot the ball, score the ball. I can, and I pride myself on being effective on both ends. But there are going to be nights like this where I just can’t make a shot, and I can’t allow that to affect my game.

I’ve still got to be aggressive. I’ve still got to try to make plays. I’m going to do everything I can to win a ballgame. Some nights, it’s just going to be like that, I’m not going to make shots. But I’ve got to find a way to make an impact.

Harden was not referenced in the question, so George went out of his way to make that analogy. As for what he meant, there are two potential explanations, and NBA Twitter seemed divided on its interpretation.

The positive interpretation is that George identified Harden, the NBA’s three-time defending scoring champion, as the standard for elite offense, and he was simply acknowledging that he’s not at that level.

The negative interpretation is that George was implying that Harden is just a scorer, and was trying to draw a contrast between that and his ability to also contribute in other ways (when his shots aren’t falling).

You be the judge. For what it’s worth, the reporter (Tomer Azarly) who asked the question and to whom George was speaking did not believe that it was intended as a slight at Harden.

If it was a criticism, it’s no longer an accurate one. Harden actually struggled as a shooter in Houston’s Game 2 win against Oklahoma City a day earlier, scoring just 21 points on 5-of-16 shooting (31.3%).

However, the MVP finalist still had immense value to the Rockets with nine assists to zero turnovers, and Harden’s predictably strong post defense helped Houston limit 6-foot-10 Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari to just 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting (41.7%).

In any event, Harden and the Rockets have much bigger priorities at the moment than what players on other teams might think. With Houston up 2-0 in its own Western Conference first-round series, Game 3 between Rockets and Thunder tips off at 5:00 p.m. Central on Saturday.

Because the Rockets and Clippers are on opposite sides of the West playoff bracket, they cannot potentially meet until the conference finals.

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