Paul George Holds First Players-Only Meeting Of Career

“We just tried to have active hands and be aggressive defensively”, said Jeff Teague, who had 13 points and two steals. Later, there was big man Al Jefferson diving from the right block to the corner to save the loose ball and retain possession by calling timeout. Last season, the Pacers and Clippers split their two-game series, with both teams winning on the road.

George called a player’s-only meeting on Thanksgiving to discuss the team’s offense, specifically how they could be more assertive with communications on the offensive end. But the Clippers made the just 22-of-70 shots overall, 4-of-24 from long range. “(Coach) Nate (McMillan) talked to me before the game, told me I was starting, I was going to play big minutes”, Robinson said. “We just were careless with the ball, all five of us out there”. “You’ve got to attack first, and if you’re always a second-strike team, then you’re probably behind”. He’s just letting the game come to him.

“You can’t beat a team when you’re playing like that”, Clippers forward Blake Griffin said. Robinson was one of six Pacers to score in double figures.

Beyond the Clippers’ poor offensive output, that’s by far the most stunning statistic of the night. Brooklyn is 0-5 this season when scoring less than 100 points. This has been a sticking point for IN so far this season, as George has repeatedly spoken on the need for improved structure and communication on offense, rather than simply relying on making reads to create points. The Clippers ranked second in field goal percentage (.472) and third in three-point shooting percentage (.388).

The Pacers (8-9) announced late Friday that leading scorer George (20.8 points per game) has a back injury and would miss Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers and Wednesday’s game at Portland. He’s been calling for those for several weeks now.

Rodney Stuckey scored 18 points, and Al Jefferson and Myles Turner each finished with 16 points.

The Clippers were out-rebounded 52-40 in this one, which isn’t surprising because they collectively couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives. He scored a career-high 20 points against the Nets.

“We’ve been preaching after yesterday’s practice that we just want to move the ball and play together as a team”, he said. “He came into training camp in great shape and really put in time working on his game, and it’s shown”. He’s playing in the flow of the game. “He was here really all of June getting himself ready for summer league. And he’s trying to help on the boards”. “We all have to make some sacrifices, and that’s what we did tonight”. Helluva an effort boi! I am careful as to what I download or play on my devices and I take my time and do research for every game. Turner played well early, but didn’t allow early foul trouble to take him out of the game once he returned.

What that says, to me, is that they’re eating more clock and not capitalizing on their opportunities. On the rare occasions where those stretches occurred for an entire quarter, or an entire half, they’d often respond by doing what they did in their previous game against Detroit, overcoming a double-digit deficit, despite eventually losing the game.