By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Playoff P to the rescue.
In front of a hostile crowd in Salt Lake City, Paul George put on a show and silenced his critics after dropping 37 points to lead the Los Angeles Clippers’ 119-111 victory against the Utah Jazz.
Once tagged as “Pandemic P” after failing to deliver in several games against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, Playoff P showed up big time and took matters into his owns hands in a crucial must-win game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals away from home without his co-star Kawhi Leonard who reportedly was nursing a knee injury and may be out of the series.
Laser-focused to get the job done on Utah’s home floor, George and the Clippers were unfazed soon as the whistle was blown and kept trading buckets with the red hot Jazz team in the first half.
Even without Leonard, the Clippers were able to pile up some points off George’s hot-shooting and Marcus Morris Sr.’s consistent scoring who finished with 25 points.
Despite Bojan Bogdanovic’s explosion in the first quarter where he sank five three-pointers, the Jazz team wasn’t able to pull away with Donovan Mitchell only limited to 21 points, a playoff career-low so far.
When Mitchell and Rudy Gobert’s pick-and-roll game began to click in the second half, it was no other than George who answered at the other end with a bucket.
Crafty scorer Reggie Jackson also came alive in the last two quarters and was able to convert a 5-0 run in the last five minutes of the ball game to push the Clippers’ lead to seven.
Jackson answered coach Tyronn Lue’s call and finished the game with 22 points off an 8/15 shooting from the field.
Leading the series 3-2, the Clippers will head home and will look to finish the Western Conference semifinals in front of their fans.
