January 07, 2025
At the center of frustrations following yet another disappointing Sixers loss in the absence of Joel Embiid: the continued shooting struggles of Paul George. George's shooting percentages from the field and three-point range his first year with the team dropped to 41.4 and 33.5, considerably below the standards set in the career of a nine-time All-Star who has been one of the best shooters in the NBA during his 15-year career.
After posting a brutal 5-for-18 shooting performance in Monday's loss to a very beatable Phoenix Suns team -- which included plenty of misses on open looks -- George talked to the media about his ongoing issues and how he plans to finally find his footing. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse also shared thoughts on the process behind George's shots and the disappointing beginning to George's time with the Sixers.
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• George on what he needs to do to get going as a shooter:
"Just keep shooting. I think just try to find a rhythm here. I thought I was getting into a good rhythm on the road. Just find a rhythm here, that's it. You know, once I kind of settle myself, then [I] have an expectation of where I need to play once I get that rhythm."
• George, who has suffered two bone bruises in his left knee this season, on whether that knee is still bothering him at all:
"Yeah, but it's no excuse. I'm trying to work through it. If I'm out on the floor, I'm fine enough to play."
• George on his conversations with Nurse about how the team can get George going:
"We're having those conversations of how to get good looks, quality looks. And I've just got to read. I've got to read what's going on out there. I think tonight, [the Suns] did a great job of just kind of loading up on, it just seems, all of my drives, all of my catch and shoot situations, it was highly loaded, playing in crowds. I've got to do a better job of letting the game come to me. I know I have a mentality to try to get going and try to be aggressive, but some of the shots I'm taking [are] probably not the best looks within the offense, and that just resulted in me kind of pressing a little bit."
• George on whether Embiid's status being up in the air so often makes it more challenging to find a consistent groove:
"I mean, first and foremost, we want everybody to be healthy and at their best. So, you know, if Big Fella needs the night, or if he's dealing with a nagging injury, we want him to rest as much as possible and be ready when we really need him. So going into it, I already knew there will be moments where [Embiid] is not out there. And so this locker room knows that we've got to play better. We've got to play together, and we've got to fill the void of Big Fella not being out there. So there's no issue on my end with the uncertainty. Again, it comes down to understanding that, you know, [Embiid] plays hard. He plays hard. Body takes a ton of blows. It's tough over a full 82 games for him to sustain that. So again, our job is kind of just pick the pieces up and fill the void for him when he's not out there."
MORE: Diving into George's offensive struggles
• Nurse on George's overall process on the offensive end against Phoenix:
"Listen, I think he's in there with a lot of the guys tonight as far as generating good shots and shots that we want him to take. And for whatever reason, they just weren't going in tonight."
• Nurse on how he squares away George's shooting percentages being so low in a significant sample size:
"Just from a shooting standpoint, again I think that they weren't all super open tonight, but a lot of them were, and a lot of them were ones that, like you said, career-wise he's going to take normal. His presence out there is really good, his defense is really good, his rebounding is really good. You know, there's a lot of things to like and I just think the shooting -- the shooting will get to his career numbers. As we go here, maybe we try to do some different things. We posted him a couple times tonight, we ran some pin-downs for him a couple times tonight, a few other things. We are doing a variety of things. 18 shots, I probably liked 13 or 14 of them. That's kind of where it's been: 12 to 15 in shots that I probably wouldn't trade in."
• Nurse on what his conversations are like with George during an uncharacteristic shooting slump:
"You talk to him a little bit. Just always asking, 'What can we do to help you?' What can we do to get you going? Do you think the looks are good enough? Is there any other action we can try to do?' We've had some of those conversations as well. And he just kind of says, 'No, we're alright,' but I'll look at these tonight for sure and sit down with him tomorrow and see what we can figure out."
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