Clippers withstand late push from Pacers in 110-99 win

Paul George dazzled in the lead role against his former team, leading the Clippers to a win.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

For better or worse, Paul George is used to having to carry teams at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. 

The burden of being the lone superstar on some very good, but not quite good enough, Pacers teams led him to ask for a trade in the summer of 2017, a path that eventually led him to Los Angeles this offseason with Kawhi Leonard. But with Leonard resting, and three more Clippers out with injuries, George had to assume the role of alpha and omega for one for more night against his former team, in front of fans who were still booing him more than two years after his departure.  

It turns out Paul George is still pretty good in that building. 

George had 36 points in 35 minutes, shooting 7-of-16 from beyond the arc and sinking 9 of his 11 free throw attempts to lead the Clippers. He also added 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals, as the team emerged with a 110-99 win. 

The Clippers played relatively evenly with the Pacers through the first 20 minutes of the game, but used a 14-3 run over the final 2:15 of the first half to take control. That spurt started with George earning a 3-shot foul; he then hit two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to continue the surge as the Clippers took a 12-point lead into halftime. 

A slow offensive start forced the Clippers to work harder on the defensive end, and the team flummoxed the Pacers with a mixture of zone and man-to-man defense throughout the game. Indiana is a league-average offense and scores 110.2 points per 100 possessions, but the Clippers limited the Pacers to an offensive rating of 95.1, despite their limited personnel. 

Lou Williams had a dreadful shooting performance but performed capably as a secondary creator with Leonard out and Terance Mann briefly banished from the rotation. He had 6 assists and kept the ball moving, helping to counteract his 2-of-19 performance from the field. 

His pick-and-roll partner Montrezl Harrell had no such problems scoring, dropping 26 points against one of the bigger frontlines in the league. Harrell's 2-of-5 free-throw shooting was the lone blemish of another strong offensive performance for the presumptive favorite for Sixth Man of the Year.  

The third member of the "Paul Haul", Patrick Beverley, brought his trademark energy and led the team with 12 rebounds. He had a key assist to Harrell for a dunk coming out of a timeout when Indiana started to cut into the lead and had another driving lay-up to help settle the Clippers when the Pacers had pulled to within 11. 

Last season, the Clippers had one of their flattest losses of the season in Indiana, as a team depleted by trade deadline transactions lost by 24. This year, under a similar roster crunch, the Clippers brought the fight to the Pacers early and often and earned another quality road win. 

The difference this time: The Clippers had a superstar to rely on to make plays on both ends of the floor, one who is quite familiar with excelling in this particular location.