Who is The Real Playoff P? Paul George is still able to contribute, despite his struggles with his postseason shooting.Paul George, Los Angeles Clippers' star player, had an unusual game in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference finals. Georges shot Saturday was way off his mark. He finished the night just 5 of 20, 1 of 9 from beyond 3 point line, and despite being an 84.7% free-throw shooter throughout his career, only 12 of 18 at the foul line.Even though you take out the field goals from George's box score, George had an impressive night with 23 points, 16 boards, six assists, and a steal in just 42 minutes. Second Spectrum matchup data will reveal that George protected four players on five or more halfcourt possessions. These players combined scored four points on nine shots, while the Suns scored at an average of 70 points per 100 possessions.This type of game is nothing new for George. Playoff P, the man who used to call himself Playoff P, has participated in 106 playoff games in his 11-year career. He's shot 40% from the field in 56 of those and was worse in 40 percent.While some of those games were early in his career, when he was a supporting team player for the Indiana Pacers basketball team, George attempted at most 10 shots in 48 of 56. This means that George's playoff game share has been 45.3 percent. He shot at least 40 percent on at most 10 shots. Only one NBA player, Russell Westbrook, has recorded more high-volume, low quality games than any other NBA player with at least 100 playoff game played in the 3-point era.Paul George has had a mixed record in the playoffs. NBA players who have played at least 100 playoff games in the past decade. Clyde Drexler 145 53 36.3 9 Chauncey Billups 1373 36.3 9 Clyde Drexler 170 59 34.7 11 Dirk Nowitzki 170 59 34.7 12 James Harden 32.8 13 Scottie pippen 289 67 32.2 14 Stephen Curry 11234 30.4 Data as of June 26, 2021. Source: Basketball-Reference.comGeorge is not surprising to have poor shooting skills. He has always been a streaky player. Jack Renshaw-Lewis from Nylon Calculus examined George's consistency in scoring in 2019. He was ranked 10th among the 97 players with a career average of more than 20 points per hour.FiveThirtyEightGeorge was still productive Saturday against the Suns, but he had always been able to find other ways to help in his past shooting disasters. He was actually more productive in those contests, even though he had a smaller load.George can deliver even when he is not shooting Paul George's playoff output in low-volume shooting games. Up to June 26, 2021. Source: Basketball-Reference.comGeorge has not had it all his way in the postseason. Second Spectrum reports that he has held players such as Kyle Lowry and Kyrie Irving, Paul Millsap and John Wall to lower-expectation shooting numbers in recent seasons. He has 19 30-point games in his career; only 23 other players have more since 1979-80. He has 31 double-doubles, which rank 24th among noncenters over the same period. He also has a triple-double. He's shot at least five 3-pointers twelve times, more than any other non-centers, including Klay Thompson, Ray Allen and James Harden.It's easy to forget, as it occurred many basketball lifetimes back, but George was also an early postseason beast, going toe to toe with LeBron James in his prime. George, who was just 22 years old, led the Pacers to back to back Eastern Conference finals appearances in 2013, and 2014. This pushes James' Miami Heat teams to seven games and six.Related: The Clippers Are Here Before. Can they fight back? Continue reading. Continue reading.George was a force in the 2013 series. He averaged 21.5 points, 5.8 rebound and 5.3 assists per game on a 50–47-81 shooting line. After a Game 7 blowout loss, he shot just 2 of 9. James was still impressed by George's presence and his authority.George told James that he would be a special player in this league after Game 7. George was able to achieve exactly this, even though he sustained a terrible broken leg injury in Game 7. This left him unable to play for almost the entire season. James lamented that he missed their playoff games. George was able to meet James again in the playoffs three years later, and it was perhaps his best series. His average game stats were 28 points, 8.8 rebound, 7.3 assists, and 1.8 steals. But his team lost the series by just 16 points.He requested a trade from Indiana and the Pacers agreed to send him to Oklahoma City. Before his first Oklahoma City playoff series, George called himself Playoff P. He declared his alter ego to be a fun person to watch and boasted that he would stop rookie Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell scored 28.5 points per game during a victory 4-2 for the Utah Jazz, while George shot only 40.8 percent from field and was a terrible 2 of 16 in Game 6.This is where the jokes about Playoff P began. George struggled for much of that series. In the next round, George was Lillard's defender when Dame scored a series-clinching point. George called it a "bad shot" after the game. In his first postseason with Clippers, George's shooting was so poor (33.9 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from deep) and that his nickname, Way-off P, was renamed Pandemic P.While those may not be the most appropriate names (for many reasons), George was busy shooting 4-17, 3-16, 3-14 and 6-19 in games against Mavericks and then 4-16 in Game 7 against Nuggets. After Denver lost to the Clippers 3-1 series lead, George said that the Clippers didn't view 2020 as a championship or bust. This was despite having stated the exact opposite just a few months before.George has been the subject of so much criticism over his career. It's often absurd to do stuff like the one he did since Kawhi Leonard's knee injury.George scored 65 points, 25 rebounds and 12 assists as the Clippers won Games 5 and 6. Without their best player, they clinched their second-round series against Jazz. He made 22 of 46 shots from the field, including 5 of 14 from deep and 16. Of 18 from the line. Although his jumper was off-line against Suns, he still managed 27.5 points and 10.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and a steal over the first four games. He also parachuted himself to the line for 10.8 chances per game. While Leonard (alongside Serge Ibaka) is out, Marcus Morris Sr. is still unable to jump and Ty Lue has returned to a larger lineup that has clogged all the driving lanes.George will have a lot to do as the Clippers try their 3-1 comeback starting Monday night. It is likely that they will fall short given their playoff record of losing 3-1 in seven-game series. George might even be able to get another one of his far-off shooting nights with the Clippers. However, even if he does, it shouldn't be a reflection on his career or his merits. He demonstrated those qualities long ago.Our latest NBA predictions are available.Why is Patrick Mahomes so amazing? FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEight
