LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 14, 2021

Paul George

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers 118, Utah Jazz 104 is.

Q. Coach says that you and Kawhi are able to get a shot off anyone, however he touched base on attacking the rim to make your teammates better. In a sense do you feel like the title hopes rely on your shoulders or are you able to trust and hand off some of that responsibility by creating opportunities for others on the team?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, we got full trust in our teammates. Myself and Kawhi got full trust in each other. It's a healthy mix. We are trying to be aggressive as well as being aggressive for others. It's opportunities for us to score when we get switches. But then there's opportunities to allow our teammates to be aggressive and make plays for our teammates when we can attack our mismatches and so I think it's just a healthy mix. We have to be able to do both.

Q. Back-to-back games of 30 points, last game was your first 30-point game of the performances. How big of an emphasis was it in game 3 and Game 4 to take over the way you have?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, I've just got to be aggressive, be aggressive, look for my shots, try to find seams, try to find gaps. But I think just coming out and being aggressive. Just, you know, play with confidence. Shoot the open jumpers, create space and continue to just try to make the game easier for everyone around me.

Q. How good was it for you with all the fans here to get that win in front of your parents since it was hard to do in that first round until Game 7?

PAUL GEORGE: It was great. It was great to win here. You know, we got to protect home court. This has to be a feared place. People come stepping into this arena, they should be fearing us. We've got to create that environment. We have to create that atmosphere and it starts with our play. Hopefully the fans bring that extra little bit for us, but you know, it was great to do that in front of my parents. That's why I went over and gave them a hug and kiss tonight.

Q. Do you get more excited when Kawhi throws down a dunk like that or a block like he did on Bogdanovic? Which one gets you more excited?

PAUL GEORGE: Both. Both. He just surprises you when the stuff that he does and that he can do. You know, so both of them gets me equally excited.

Q. Does he look like a different level than he has maybe in the last month or so? Is he rounding into form here?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, you know, you see him being more aggressive and you know, you know what time it is. It's written all over him in terms of it's go time. It's playoff basketball and you know, it's winning time. So you see it all around him, his approach, his body language, everything gets to be great and so he's leading the way.

Q. Back-to-back 30 games, you've been racking up the minutes on top of the workload. How have you adjusted to the workload, the minutes, as this postseason specifically has gone on? How have you been able to take care of your body after everything you've been asked to do?

PAUL GEORGE: Just staying with a strict schedule as far as recovery. That's really just been the key. I mean, T-Lue knows I will do whatever it takes. He trusts me out there in the situations and so he know I'm going to do whatever it takes to win for our team and give our team the best chance.

So that's really the mindset. I don't look at the minutes. If I could, would I love to play 48. But yeah, it's just my mindset. I don't care what the minutes is. I'm out there to try to win the ballgame.

Q. Having been in this position the last round, can you describe the focus in the locker room, assuming you guys want to keep this going into Game 5 in Utah?

PAUL GEORGE: Game 5s are pivotal, and so that's the way we are looking at this. We have to go in there. We know it's going to be even more hostile but we have to drown out the noise and go there for one mission and that mission is to not come back there. And so that's the mindset. We've got to try and go get Game 5.

Q. Seems like in the first two games, you didn't exploit their mismatches when you had a small or big on you. How much is this game won on those margins of really finding those mismatches and exploiting those whenever you can?

PAUL GEORGE: Well, it's playoff basketball. Player sets, typically they are going to get blown up and you're going to have to go to second, third options. That's just playoff basketball, and so the luxury for us, we've got play-making players. We've got isolation players, and so you know, this is what it comes down to, finding mismatches and exploiting it, and you know, milking something that you see out there.

Q. How hard is it to stay focused defensively and offensively?

PAUL GEORGE: It's not hard. Again, we've got one job and that's to go out there and try to win, and so that's the main focus and that's always what we are focused on. That part of it is not hard to be focused on what the goal is.