Paul George Gets Booed in His Return to LA for the 1st Time Since Leaving Clippers to Join 76ers
Paul George heard about it in his return to Los Angeles on Wednesday night for the first time since leaving the Clippers last summer for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Fans booed George when he was introduced at Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ new arena that seats 18,000 but drew announced attendance of 15,627.
They got vocal each time he touched the ball throughout the game.
Early on, he responded by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. 실시간 바카라사이트
“Boo him tonight and love him afterwards,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the game.
George had 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting and seven rebounds in 24 minutes in the 110-98 loss.
The Sixers fell to 1-6.
“He was getting a lot of attention, lots of double-teams,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.
“He had some good buckets and played some pretty good defense at times as well, but again, he's still working his way back conditioning-wise.”
George was playing just his second game of the season after a left knee injury kept him out.
He scored 15 points in 32 minutes of the Sixers' 118-116 loss at Phoenix on Monday.
“They’re throwing a lot of stuff at me that I’m quite not ready for at this moment because I’m still just trying to get back healthy,” George said.
“I'll be better. I’ll put the work in but it is a rough patch.”
Late in the first quarter, the Clippers played a George tribute video on the giant halo board above the court.
He waved to acknowledge the polite applause.
“Any time I tried to lock in and get prepared I look over and see someone I knew,” he said.
“Instantly it took me out of that mindset of getting prepared and then I tried to lock back in and there’s another person.”
In five seasons with the Clippers, the native of nearby Palmdale helped them to their first-ever Western Conference Finals appearance, but they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs the last two years.