LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 10, 2021

Paul George

Postgame Press Conference

Utah Jazz 117, Los Angeles Clippers 111.

Q. You guys changed up your starting lineup today, got Zubac back in there. What does it for you when you have Zu in the middle?

PAUL GEORGE: You know, it just gives us size. Gives us size and just another screener, try to free up our shooters, myself, Reg, Kawhi, Marcus. Just give us some size out there.

Q. It was obviously a struggle to defend Donovan in the first half. Team did better in the second half. Besides the scheme change, what do you feel like the team needs to do in order to carry that over to start Game 3?

PAUL GEORGE: Just continue to just show physicality and just be aggressive defensively. I think we did that more so in the second half. But you know, I think we can start the game off, just make it a little tougher on them.

Q. What can you say about Reggie's sort of will, not just tonight but throughout the season? He's really like helped you in resilient moments. What does that say to you, a guy that you know pretty well?

PAUL GEORGE: You know, Reggie is a scorer. It's no surprise, him going on spurts where he can just flat-out score. I've seen him do it. That's who he is. He's as good as it gets from guard play, you know, with creating shots and making tough shots. And so, you know, it's big for us. It's huge for us, especially when we are going through moments where we need a basket, Reg always comes up big in those moments.

Q. Have you guys thought throughout these first two games that your offensive process and the shot quality has been good enough? Obviously Utah wants to funnel you down into I guess the short, mid-range and have Gobert contest. How do you think the shot quality has been?

PAUL GEORGE: I thought it's been good. More so than anything, it's us making the correct reads. I think we are getting the defense to shift in ways that are favorable -- favorable for us. But you know, we've just got to clean up the reads. We do have opportunities to hurt them when Gobert comes to help.

So we'll look at it. We'll make the adjustments. Try to find the right reads going into Game 3.

Q. This is your fourth straight game with at least nine free throw attempts. This added impact of you getting downhill, is that where you think the team needed the biggest boost from you especially in a game like this?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, it's just try to attack. Try to attack, be aggressive. You know, it's just how I've always tried to approach the game. It is what it is. You know, I just try to protect the basket. Make it tough on the officials. Getting contact and you know, credit them for their attack. That's just what it is. Try to get to the free throw line and get some easy opportunities to score the ball.

Q. Kawhi just said that "we have a lot of fight left. We're up for the challenge." And you guys have clearly done this before. Does that give you confidence in this 0-2 hole, but Utah because they are a different beast than Dallas, does this feel like a tougher hill to climb?

PAUL GEORGE: We've got to give them credit. This is a tough opponent. They weren't No. 1 in the West for no reason. This is a tough team. But, you know, we are approaching this the same way Dallas was; we still feel we have a lot of possessions that we can clean up and a lot of possessions that are hurting us that's our fault.

So as good as they are playing, as good as this matchup is, as tough as this matchup is, we still feel like there's moments throughout this game, this series, that, you know, we are making plays that are self-inflicted. And so again, it's a lot of uphill, but we're optimistic that we can get this under control and go back home and one game at a time and try to tie this series up.