-
Tim Bontemps
PHILADELPHIA — Paul George said he «felt good» after playing in his first game since March as the Philadelphia 76ers earned a 110-108 comeback victory over the LA Clippers on Monday.
George, who had surgery on his left knee in July, finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes against his former team, playing in roughly five-minute stints at the start of all four quarters. He was on the bench for the final 8:52 of the game as the 76ers overcame a 14-point deficit to pick up the win.
«It felt great,» said George, who shot 2-for-9 from the field. «It felt great to finally play basketball again. Been like eight months since I played, so it was a long journey. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of hiccups … but felt good to finally get out there, and I felt good.
«Rusty, but I felt good.»
George played in his first game since March 4, when his season ended after he received injections in both his left adductor muscle and left knee. He played in only 41 games in his first season with the 76ers, who signed him to a four-year, $212 million max contract in July 2024.
George’s 16.4 points per game last season were his lowest total since his third year in the league and was part of a season in Philadelphia that never got off the ground for he or virtually anyone else with the 76ers after starting off with championship aspirations.
His second season with the 76ers was then delayed by several weeks after he underwent off surgery back in July. But, after an extended ramp up period in practice, George was cleared to return to the court Monday, with the expectation that he’d play somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 minutes.
It took him hardly any time at all to make an impact, hitting a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on the right wing less than a minute in off a Tyrese Maxey pass for the first basket of the game, and then was fouled on a 3-pointer on the next possession, making two of the three free throws.
«It felt great, man,» George said with a smile of making his first shot. «I watched it and there were so many emotions inside. There was zero emotions outside … honestly, I was just trying to focus on just the game, staying locked in and engaged, but it felt great to make the first shot.»
From there, though, it was mostly downhill. George eventually hit a short runner in the lane over Clippers center Ivica Zubac, but that would be the only other one he’d hit on a night he went 1-for-4 from 3-point range and 4-for-7 from the free throw line.
It was understandable, though, that George would have so much rust to knock off after more than eight months between NBA games. He said now the next steps in his ramp up, and potentially playing more minutes, which would be determined by working with the team’s medical staff and seeing how his body responds.
While George was sitting on the bench down the stretch, though, a chaotic game eventually ground to a conclusion, with Maxey finishing with 39 points but also having two turnovers inside the final 20 seconds that gave the Clippers, who had been down by 4 with less than 20 seconds to go, two chances to tie or take the lead inside the final 10 seconds.
Former 76er James Harden, however, missed two 3-point attempts — although it appeared he was fouled on the first one — to allow Philadelphia to escape with the win.
«I thought I got fouled,» Harden said after finishing with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists but shooting just 7-for-25 from the field and 2-for-12 from 3-point range, a day after his furious attempt to drag the Clippers back from down 24 against Boston ended with another missed 3 at the buzzer. «But then I had another opportunity too.
«They went into a box and one, [76ers coach Nick Nurse] kind of switched it up a little bit, so kind of threw us off and kind of took my aggressiveness away a little bit. But I thought I had a good opportunity at it.»
When crew chief Curtis Blair was asked by a pool reporter after the game why a foul wasn’t called on the first 3-pointer Harden took, the answer was, «During live play, it was deemed that Grimes legally contested Harden’s 3-point shot.»
Whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s Last Two Minute report on the matter says, however, won’t change the result, which improved the 76ers to 8-5 on the season, and 7-4 in clutch games this season.
Elsewhere on the injury front for the 76ers, Joel Embiid remained sidelined for a fourth straight game, including the last three with right knee soreness. Before the game, however, Nurse said he thought Embiid could be nearing a return.
«[He’s] just not quite pain-free,» Nurse said. «I think it’s getting better.
«I don’t think he’s far away from playing.»
In six games so far this season, Embiid is averaging 19.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 23.3 minutes per game.
There was no update, as well, on the status of forward Kelly Oubre Jr., whose spot in the starting lineup was filled by George on Monday. Oubre suffered a knee injury in Friday’s loss in Detroit, and was listed as out Monday with a left knee sprain.
Oubre had started every game this season before Monday, and was 16.8 points per game on 49.7% shooting.
