LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 25, 2021

Paul George

Postgame Press Conference

Dallas Mavericks - 127, Los Angeles Clippers 121

Q. You guys had, you and Kawhi specifically, had a fantastic offensive night, but it seemed like at some point Kleber, Doncic, Porzingis shooting like 70 percent from the field, 70 percent from three. Do you feel like those were game plan mistakes that allowed them to get open like that or were they just shooting off the charts again?

PAUL GEORGE: They're shooting it really well and they're playing with confidence.

Q. What's your level of concern right now going down 0-2?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, there is none. It's a competition. We got to rise to the occasion. The fact of the matter is if we don't, we're done for. But it's no level of concern. We just got to play our game. We got to play through this. We got to incorporate our defense. Luka's going to get his touches. We just got to do a better job defensively of just quieting everybody else.

Q. What did you think that Terance was able to bring when he got put in in the fourth quarter?

TYRONN LUE: I thought, T-Mann brought some great energy. He allowed to us play fast. We got rebounds. We got out. He ran the floor. He was able to put pressure on them with his transition game.

Q. You mentioned that the defense needs to dial in and be better. So my question for you is, obviously, you start the game a certain way. You start with Ivica, you start with Patrick. You guys play a lot of minutes where you and Kawhi were the biggest guys on the floor. What does that mean for you guys and what do you kind of need from really the bigs when they're in there and do you feel like you need more?

PAUL GEORGE: I'm not sure. I got to see the tape, just to see how everything played out and what we need to get better at.

Q. Coach said there was still some game plan mistakes made tonight similar to what you guys did on Saturday in Game 1. Is it a communication issue, is it just not enough minutes together throughout the season or is it just sometimes the other team just makes shots?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, I think the mistakes we're making, they've just been crucial. I don't think they have missed many on mistakes we've made to bail us out. So, again, give them credit. They shot almost 60 tonight. They're making shots and if we don't dial in, if we don't honor the coverages, if we don't do a better job defensively, they're showing that we're going to pay for it.

Q. It seemed like at the start of the game you made a very concerted effort to get to the basket and then it seemed like kind of in the second half it kind of tailed off. What was the reason for that?

PAUL GEORGE: No, I wasn't. I thought I still attacked. I still put pressure. They helped, they load, they help, so I was just kicking it out, making plays, but I was still being aggressive and attacking to the basket.

Q. How difficult is it to recover back out to the shooters? When you guys are blitzing Luka, is it just like he is so good at finding his open guys when you're doing that or is there something else you guys can do to sort of combat that when you're blitzing?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, there's things we can do better. We've got to watch the tape. We got to see what it is that we're doing wrong. But he's seen every defense. He's seen every coverage. It's not like we're throwing something new at him. It's just -- I give the credit to Luka, man, he's good, he's special. He knows how to see the floor and he's making them go.

Q. You mentioned Luka's special and they're playing with a lot of confidence. Do you get the sense that they're really kind of playing free and without a lot of pressure on them and how dangerous does that make a team?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, that's the team that's the most dangerous, the team that, I'm pretty sure everyone expected to us win this. So they were the underdogs and when you're a lower seed you really don't have high expectations, so they're playing free, they're playing with confidence. I think we were giving them a little too much confidence, so that's on us to shut that down. But they're playing with it. They're playing their game. They're playing with confidence. They're making shots. The supporting cast of Luka is being aggressive and they're doing their job.