NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CLIPPERS VS. SUNS

June 30, 2021

Paul George

LA Clippers

Game 6: Postgame

Phoenix Suns 130, Los Angeles Clippers 103

Q. What can you say about this team? You fought through a lot of adversity with the tight schedule?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, we fought all year. Very proud of my guys, what we had to overcome throughout the year. We had injuries throughout the season. Obviously injuries in the postseason. We found a way to fight through. We found a way to keep going, keep playing. We just had each other's backs all year. One of the greatest locker rooms I've been a part of.

Q. Reggie was pretty emotional talking to us. What was it like to play with him over the last year and a half and do you think he’ll be back next year here?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, but obviously Reggie played himself into some options coming down to his free agency, rightfully so. He played his ass off. But of course I would love Reggie to come back if that is an option. I'll try my best to play my role and to get him back to be a Clipper.

Q. I remember around the All-Star Break, how appreciative you were of that moment, obviously not making it last year and making it this year and looking around, like I'm still here, but you never know how many more of these you get to go to. When you conceptualize your own season, your own journey to get through and into the season, what do you feel you've learned about yourself and how do you take that into next season?

PAUL GEORGE: I mean, you know, nothing that I didn't know already. The narrative of me not being postseason player or all that, I never understood it.

But it’s not much, I'm the same person. I've dealt with stuff as we all do. Makes me no different than the next man. But it is what it is. I came up short again. I'm proud of what we did as a team. I wasn't out to move nothing to nobody but to show up as a leader for this team and to put us in position to get to where we got to. Again, came up short. My good wasn't enough.

But there's room for improvement, which is what I try to continue to push and do better going into the summer. But it's good, though. I'll look back. I'll reflect. I'll see what I need to get better at and address it right away when it's time to start training again.

Q. You mentioned you're going to try and do what you can as far as Reggie is concerned. Obviously this team has other essentials, Kawhi being one of them. How involved do you feel like you need to be as far as the team and also just with other players on this team to keep it at that high level.?

PAUL GEORGE: Well, one of the commitments I made signing my contract was to show I'm here for the long run and I'm committed to this team. Hopefully that weighs on anybody's decision. But it's no hard feelings. You know, these guys, they got decisions to make on their own. I will definitely try to, I don't know, I haven't talked to any of them. But hopefully this is where they want to continue to play and grow and be something and do something special in the long run.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to try my hardest to recruit. That's all I could do.

Q. This partnership with the California guys, what's the connection and you the team have made with Kawhi?

PAUL GEORGE: Yeah, we've made great connections. I think we've both grown, myself and Kawhi together. I think we really enjoy being teammates, and we see what we can be and with a we can do. So I'm happy. I'm happy to be his teammate. I was very excited. Proud of what we accomplished. Proud of what myself and Reg were able to accomplish. I think we've got a good foundation.

Q. This postseason, how do you balance, you've done something no other team in franchise history has done. Seems like it could be "what if," with the injuries and tight schedule; how do you balance that?

PAUL GEORGE: There's no excuses, healthy or unhealthy. You're literally one possession in each game up to this point, one possession in each one of those games to this series being a lot different.

But at the same time, you understand the healthiest team usually wins at this time. We were very unfortunate to be on the bad side of that.

Q. You were just saying that you were really happy with what you and Kawhi could do and you saw possibilities. What did you see in what you guys did and do you think about what you could have done together had he been healthy?

PAUL GEORGE: We'd be going on. This series would be a lot different. Talk about one of the best players in the league being out, yet we were inches away from getting to the next round. So definitely it's a "what if" on this. Fact of the matter is we didn't do enough to win, and that's the reason we're going home.

Q. Can you think about what this team has, and maybe what it need, is there anything that you think this team can add to build on?

PAUL GEORGE: Some personnel?

Q. Yeah, personnel.

PAUL GEORGE: I think we didn't get here for no reason. We had the pieces we needed. We just have pieces that got hurt during the process. It's really what is just came down to. We had the pieces to get to where we wanted to get to.

Q. Obviously the result isn't what you wanted but was the process throughout the year, was it what you wanted or what you hoped it would be?

PAUL GEORGE: Yes, the process was as it should be. I thought this team squeezed everything we could out of what we had. We squeezed everything out of one another, and I thought we got stronger and better as the season went on.