The NBA playoffs breed heroes and villains alike, and Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night was no different.
When Deandre Ayton with after his alley-oop winner. Firmly in the first category was less than a second on the clock, the Phoenix Suns took a 104-103 win over the LA Clippers, giving them a 2-0 lead in the series, with Paul George among the latter.
The Clippers star missed two free throws with 8.2 seconds remaining, leaving the door ajar for the Suns to regain the lead. Had he sunk both free throws, Phoenix would have needed a three to send the game into overtime George even made one of the two, the Suns would have needed at least a basket to tie the game or a three to win it.
Instead, George’s misses made for a dramatic finale, which will live long in Suns’ lore and could well go down as the kind of sliding-door moment that decides the playoff series.
The failures were completely atypical for George, an 85 percent career free throw shooter and overshadowed an otherwise brilliant performance, the seven-time All-Star finished the race with 26 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds, shot 10 of 23 out of the field and scored the Clippers last six points, all within the last minute to put his team in the lead with 103-102.
George’s efforts ultimately went nowhere with his two missed free throws, and Twitter was predictably merciless as the Clippers star failed to live up to his nickname “Playoff P”.
all the repayment capital that Paul George built up these playoffs …….
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) 23. June 2021
Paul George went from playoff P to pandemic P within seconds pic.twitter.com/k2as0aGYox
– Chicken (@nuggetdoyu) 23. June 2021
Clippers fans watch Paul George move from playoff P to Pandemic P pic.twitter.com/QfZP96RvW5
– Jackson Lockhart (@_Jack_lockhart) 23. Juni 2021
Paul George is finally putting an end to the Pandemic P jokes tonight: pic.twitter.com/z91LI05CHD
– Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 23, 2021
George’s misses in the free throw were compared to the fights of Ben Simmons.
Earlier this week, the Philadelphia 76ers point guard was the butt of the Twitter jokes after scooping just 5 points in his team’s 103-96 home defeat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks.
In the seven games against the Hawks, Simmons shot 33 percent from the free throw line, bringing his overall win, with an average for the 2021 playoffs down to 34.2 percent.
According to data from ESPN Stats and Information, that was the lowest percentage in NBA history for a player with at least 70 free-throw attempts in the postseason.
Ben Simmons watches Paul George miss 2 clutch free throws pic.twitter.com/zO0CVy6urc
– Luke Simpson (@Lukesimpson___) 23. Juni 2021
Paul George at the free throw line in the clutch: pic.twitter.com/VshKJDKHSu
– Loul Embaye (@Loul_Embaye) 23. June 2021
Speaking to ESPN after the game, George admitted that his mistake cost the Clippers the game.
“Obviously it was a missed opportunity,” he said.
“Pat [Beverley] made an incredible move that enabled me to extend the lead. I’m always confident on the free-throw line. I was always very successful at clutching moments on the free-throw line. I was simply unsuccessful last night. “
With the series relocating to Los Angeles, the only consolation this season for the Clippers is in their playoffs, where they made it a habit of digging their way around a hole.
The Clippers have eliminated a two game deficit. Tekk.tv News
