The player, highly criticized for his role last season, was the key for the Clippers to be able to beat the Lakers again. Fans went crazy on social networks after they saw the performance of Paul George in the second half. After the match highlights were uploaded on YouTube, it went viral on the trending page. Paul George’s performance got thousands of YouTube views in just a few minutes after uploading.
The Clippers prevailed in the strong duck on the opening day of the 2020/21 NBA season. The duel was served in the same way as the previous campaign, with a Los Angeles derby to whet the appetite for a year that is presumed frantic. The incentive was, this time, that those in purple and gold defend the title they won last October in the historic Florida bubble. Things have changed a lot and they did a lot already in 2019/20, but the result was the same: the Clippers took the game.
Not a few were, equally, the unknowns and hot spots. The Spanish Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka made their debut, one with less success than the other, Dennis Schröder arrived as a starter and, above all, Montrezl Harrell tasted the honey of the Lakers after playing in the Clippers until a few weeks ago.
The ups and downs of the first half led to a second in which everything was balanced. It seemed that there was going to be a great game until the end. But Paul George did not want it, he preferred to vindicate himself in the face of the numerous criticisms he has received since the end of last season and that have made him a real problem for the Clippers on and off the track. On the floor is where the facts are demonstrated if you are a basketball player and he charged this match with an unstoppable streak to which LeBron James himself had to surrender. A good way to start another year in which this rivalry will be the order of the day.
At the start, Ibaka’s spectacular premiere The Hispano-Congolese took the air again from Kawhi, with whom he already shared a team in Toronto, and punished Marc, who charged quickly with two fouls. The Lakers failed to get it, with eight points in half a quarter, and began to lose steam.
From the changing rooms Lebron returned with excellent success. It looked like a tennis match, the kind that leaves a broken neck from looking from one side to the other with a certain agility. The worst part – Marc Gasol left with five fouls and no points scored. The one from Barcelona, off point against Ibaka and Zubac. Almost everyone appeared in those anxious minutes, with an Anthony Davis prepared to be the one to change the encounter. Still – Paul George was the man. The Clippers guard had 7 points in the first half and finished with 33, with 15 of those goals in a third quarter (10 in 2 minutes) in which, especially in the final part, he began to dominate. LeBron James had started the period with two triples, marking ground, and ended up missing.
What the Clippers had to do from there was control the distance. They were already touching or touching ten, with the possibility that the Lakers would react. The champions stayed at half throttle and did not press enough to scare the rivals. A couple of buzzard actions from Pat Beverley, always attentive to rejections, more from George and the sentence from Kawhi Leonard, who finished with 26 points and good percentages but in the second row, did what was needed. The Clippers start a new path to who knows where it can lead.
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