LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 30, 2020

Paul George

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers 117, Dallas Mavericks 97

Q. This team, the first playoff series together, and obviously it's a very unusual series with everything that happened, what do you feel like this roster maybe learned about itself going through an up-and-down kind of series like this?

PAUL GEORGE: That we're deep. We're versatile. I think it's no secret, no surprise, things we already knew; the fact that we have so many defenders and offensive weapons. It just remains we're a very deep team.

Q. Just wondering if you called Kawhi like the most reliable player there is in the league. What's it like, you've played with many great players, what's it like to watch him close this series out and just be so reliable? And what did you think of him talking at the players meeting last Wednesday, because Doc said his demeanor was needed in an emotional meeting?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, you know, Kawhi is a man of business. He stepped up. He stepped in. I mean, time after time, you know, whenever we needed him, he put us on his back. He finished the series. I can't say it enough. I mean, after the series, he is the most reliable guy. It's his shot making, just his time on just awareness plays, he's just one of a kind.

Yeah, I mean, everybody knows he's a man of few words, but when he speaks, it's coming from a great place. You know, he's going to get his point across. You know, his demeanor, his presence was felt. He was powerful in those meetings.

Q. You guys pulled out a hard-fought series win but obviously have bigger goals. What's the line in the locker room after this looking ahead?

PAUL GEORGE: Great. Winning a playoff series is great but our job is not done. Move on to the next one.

Q. Zub played big in this series, after the last postseason kind of being played off the court by the Warriors. What did you think of his play throughout the series?

PAUL GEORGE: I thought he was great. I thought he was great. What brings so much value to Zub is a lot of teams want to switch. He gets little guys on him, he's going to dominate them, eliminate the switch. He's just got to have his presence out there. He's got to make his presence felt and just punish low guards and guys that want to switch on him.

Q. Question about Reggie. He kind of got going in the fourth quarter. What's it like for you to see your buddy have an impact like that?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, it's great. Reg stepped up. Those buckets were big, meaningful baskets at a time where we needed them. He gave us that separation because they were coming down there and they were scoring, as well. So those threes that he made and the confidence that he shot those with was huge. Again, he gave us that separation we needed.

Q. Doc had mentioned this series was good for you guys in terms of getting a little bit of adversity and growing through it. How do you feel in terms of when this series started to now?

PAUL GEORGE: I feel good. I feel good. This was a hard-fought battle. We knew it was going to be. It's great to get some more days away from the game. Get our minds back right. Get our bodies back right. And you know, prepare for what's ahead and just get ready for that.

Q. Just curious, I asked Kawhi this, you've been to multiple conference Finals and Kawhi has been to Finals. How do you go about celebrating? Do you celebrate after this or do you focus on the next team right away?

PAUL GEORGE: You know, on previous teams, we would celebrate, and it didn't have to be nothing major. Just a dinner was all we needed to kind of just de compress, be together, laugh together and just, you know, be as one. I think that's what's the most important thing in my previous teams.

So I'm sure that we'll do that. We started this series off with a dinner. You know, we got to make the emphasis to continue to stay together as these series goes on.

Q. I'd like to have ask you about the development of sham and how he's progressed since the replacement of Patrick Beverley and how he progressed. Can you talk about that and your confidence in him?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, I think that's exactly what it is, Landry's confidence. It's not that he's doing anything different. I think he's found his confidence. He's being aggressive, and you know, he's making plays, we're making plays for him. He's finding his way. He's figured out his game, and you know, we're going to try to help as much as possible with just the things that we've learned down the road and just passing it along to Sham.

But I think the biggest thing that we've seen in him is he's out there and he's looking to play the game. He's looking to score. He's looking to make plays. For him, it's just confidence, and the more confidence he has, the more confidence -- the more confident he is, the bigger games you're going to see from him.