LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 8, 2020

Paul George

Postgame Press Conference

Clippers - 122, Trail Blazers - 117

Q. What do you make of the young guys' effort out there? Also, is it a little fun for you personally to kind of ding Portland in this position?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, happy the young guys went out there and delivered. You know, just great experience in that moment. Rod made a big shot. They kept plays alive. They defended well, and they got us the win, closed the game out for us.

Q. I was wondering, were you on a minutes limit tonight not playing in the fourth quarter, and also how surprised were you to see Damian Lillard miss two straight free throws?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, we played limited minutes tonight.

And real surprised. I'm sure everybody was. I'm sure he probably was, but he missed them. It's part of the game. It is what it is.

Q. So you were on a minutes restriction. Obviously to some people it looks like maybe you getting pulled out late in the game, how does that differ from the reality of what's actually happening in the huddle, and obviously the guys kind of bringing it together to pull out the win tonight?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, we still feel we should win regardless who's in the game. We still have a game plan to have and to execute. Regardless of who's in, who's out, who's closing the game, who's not, we still have a high expectation to win games. I think we showed it, what we're capable of still with not having all our guys on the floor at one time.

Q. It seems like JaMychal has been really helpful for you guys, especially in these bubble games. What do you love the most about playing with him on the floor?

PAUL GEORGE: J-Mych does a little bit of everything; he defends and he really stretches the floor for us. It's great to have a bit of both, like a defensive presence, that toughness guy, that anchor guy, and that can spread the floor and knock down shots. He's very reliable. He's a guy that we try to find because it's a weapon to have an X-factor like J-Mych.

Q. Between Damian talking to Pat on the bench a little bit and then you talking to Gary Trent and then there was some back-and-forth at the end, what made this game kind of chippy?

PAUL GEORGE: Competition. It's part of the game. Simple as that. It's just competition. Some people can play with talking, some people can't.