Paul George gets booed in return to Los Angeles as Sixers drop fourth straight game with loss to Clippers
George received a 70 second video tribute from the Clippers and scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting against his old team. Tyrese Maxey left the game in the third quarter with left hamstring soreness.
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LOS ANGELES — During a timeout in the first quarter Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Clippers played a 70-second tribute to Paul George.
It opened with highlights from the team’s Western Conference Finals appearance run. It spent more time on George’s work in the community, ending with footage of him pounding his chest after a big play.
The video ended with a white screen and blue and red letters that read, “WELCOME BACK, PAUL”
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That’s about when George looked up.
Until then, he’d been focused on what Sixers coach Nick Nurse in the huddle during the timeout.
George pointed up at the crowd and walked down the chest. He even waived his right arm in the direction of the baseline. At that time, a video showed a woman wearing George’s No. 13 Clippers jersey and holding a sign that read’ Paul G Please Come Back.’
But aside from that, George was treated like a hated man in the Clippers’ 110-98 victory in his first game against his former team since signing with the Sixers in July.
The crowd booed whenever he touched the ball. Members of the Clippers cheering section even turned their back during a timeout and held up a sign that read “PG Think Before You Speak.” The Clippers cheering section even held up and shook newspapers to distract George while he was at the foul line in the first half.
But George finished with 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting. He added seven rebounds, two assists, three steals, one block, and four turnovers as the Sixers (1-6) extended their losing streak to four games.
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Sixers All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey left the game after playing the entire third quarter due to right hamstring soreness. He had 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting — including making 1 of 6 three-pointers in 31 minutes, 34 seconds. Kelly Oubre Jr. (18 points), Caleb Martin (14), and KJ Martin (10) were the Sixers’ other double-figure scorers.
Meanwhile, the Clippers (4-4) won for the second time at their new $2 billion Intuit Dome.
Los Angeles broke the game open with a 16-2 run to take an 84-68 advantage with 5.5 seconds left in the third quarter and later extended their lead to 22 points.
Norman Powell torched Philly with 26 points while making 6 of 8 three-pointers. Former Sixer James Harden added 18 points, but made just 5 of 15 shots.
Joel Embiid served the first game of his three-game suspension without pay for shoving Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes in the Sixers’ locker room. As a result, Embiid will make his season debut Tuesday night against the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center. The 7-foot-2 center missed the entire preseason and the first seven games with left knee injury management.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was asked what he makes of the suspension.
“Here’s what I make of it right now, I’m glad it’s done,” he said. “It seemed like it took a bit, right? Certainly expected it to happen, to come down. I think now we got a timeline on when we’re going to see him on the floor, and that’s going to be Tuesday, right? So, moving forward, I guess it’s OK. At least we know he’s going to be out there on Tuesday.”