Paul George dominates preseason debut, shows he can be offensive spark Sixers need

DES MOINES, IOWA — Paul George showed why the 76ers were determined to sign him.

The Sixers were in desperate need of a first-quarter spark, and he obliged early in Friday’s 121-111 preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Wells Fargo Arena. George scored his first basket on a reverse layup to pull his team within eight points.

Moments later, George buried a three-pointer. Then he stole the ball, dribbled in the paint and fired a pass to a wide-open Kelly Oubre. Jr, who buried a three.

And that was nothing compared to the second quarter when the nine-time All-Star scored 13 points.

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George would finish with a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal before exiting in the third quarter.

“I felt good,” said George, who shot 8-for-14, including 4 of 9 three-pointers in 26 minutes, 17 seconds. “I think the main thing for me was to get my wind up and try to just try to find some rhythm.”

The 34-year-old has often spoken about finding ways to fit in and play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

But it was obvious that George is much more than a third option. His presence has the potential to take a lot of the pressure off his two co-stars. And by the way he took over at times, George appears capable of being the player who closes out games.

“I got to be aggressive,” he said of Friday’s dominant stretches. “Regardless if it’s preseason or not, I’m trying to just build habits. These guys have to get used to me. I got to get used to them.

“So I think I had to be myself. You know everybody has to be themselves for this to work.”

George and Maxey did a solid job of playing off of each other against the Timberwolves, with each player willing taking a backseat when the other was hot.

After George dominated the second quarter, Maxey took over the third, when he made 3 of 4 three-pointers to score 11 of his 21 points.

The Sixers will get a better idea of how all the pieces will fit once Embiid competes. The 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star didn’t travel with the team to Iowa for the exhibition game.

This came after he and George both sat out Monday’s exhibition opener against the New Zealand Breakers. The Sixers play the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Saturday. They’ll wrap up their three-game preseason road trip this upcoming Monday against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse said he’s unsure if Embiid will join the team at some point during this trip. However, he liked what he saw Friday night.

“Obviously, I always say, ‘What do you get in Paul George?’ The first thing I always say is you get a bucket-maker,” Nurse said. “That certainly was on display tonight. I want to get him involved with some of the rhythm of the offense, or some of the more easy things instead of him having to create for himself a little bit.”

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Nurse attributed the Sixers’ clunkiness to the team’s newness. He also thinks the starting lineup of George, Oubre, Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin, and Maxey were a little unsure, at times.

“Then again, things you can clean up,” Nurse said. “Got to get them together more, get some more reps, all that kind of stuff.”

But George showed that he can surely be the piece the Sixers were missing.