It’s tough to say what was more surprising to watch on Wednesday night: Paul George became the first Clipper with a 35/15/5 playoff game or the Clippers winning their first ‘Game 5’ in the semifinals in franchise history.
With Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely with what is believed to be a torn ACL, George showed up and showed out with one of the best individual performances in the playoffs with 37 points, 16 rebounds while shooting 54.5% from the field. However, George wasn’t alone as Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson combined for 47 points, and each shot above 50% from the field.
Meanwhile, Utah seemed to have taken this lightly as it wasn’t until the morning of Game 5 that the NBA world had learned the severity of Leonard’s knee injury that is likely to keep him out for the remainder of the season. The Jazz may have taken ‘Playoff P’ for granted and underestimated this Clipper squad without Leonard.
On top of that, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell played his worst game of this year’s postseason, scoring 21 points and shooting an ugly 31.6% from the field. Looking at those numbers and comparing it to George’s performance, it’s blatantly clear which team, or better yet player deserved to win on Wednesday night. Prior to the game five clash, the Jazz were undefeated at home in this year’s playoffs and are now on the verge of elimination with their backs against the wall.
Quite frankly, the Clippers have figured the top-seeded Jazz out, and having a 3-2 lead through the first five games of this series should come to no one’s surprise after taking a closer look at the numbers, per Statmuse
Jazz defensive rating:
100.5 — Reg season
121.1 — vs Clippers
Jazz FG% allowed:
44.7 — Reg season
48.8 — vs Clippers
Jazz 3P% allowed:
34.1 — Reg season
41.6 — vs Clippers
3PA/G defended by Gobert:
3.8 — Reg season
10.0 — vs Clippers
On Friday the Clippers are on the verge of advancing to their first conference finals in franchise history and best believe ‘Playoff P’ is here to stay, averaging 25.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 5.2 APG, 2.8 3PG, 46/36/90%, and 60.2 TS% while eyeing a fourth consecutive 30+ point game.
If Los Angeles can take care of business at Staples Center, then we could have the Western Conference Finals matchup setup.
