The Los Angeles Clippers are once again dealing with injuries in the playoffs, as Paul George remains on the sidelines. There was hope that he would miss only a couple of games in their first-round series but the NBA isn’t helping matters with the scheduling.
The first four games in the series between the Clippers and the Phoenix Suns have the least amount of rest in comparison to the rest of the NBA and George blasted the league on his podcast for it.
“It’s bulls***. The league been f**king us up for a while,” George said. “It’s tough for us and I want to say the past couple of years where we’ve just had a tough schedule of playing the most games going into All-Star break. We’ve just had years of tough schedules. With all of it, I think if we can just look at it like let’s just f***ing take care of business, we’ll get the most rest out of this. Get ready, hopefully, see where I’m at, maybe I’m good?”
(starts at 11:40 mark):
The series starts on the 16th of April and Game 4 is less than a week away on the 22nd of April on Saturday, with there being no extra days off. Only one other series has Game 4 on the 22nd and that is the Sixers-Nets one, with their series starting on the 15th of April, which means there is an additional rest day there.
The Clippers clearly feel that the scheduling hasn’t favored them in recent years, and this would just be the latest example. If the games were a bit further apart, then George could potentially miss fewer games, but in this situation, he will miss the first four if he can’t be back in a week. Even if PG was healthy, the Clippers certainly wouldn’t have liked the fact their series was the only one without additional rest.
Can The Clippers Beat The Suns Without Paul George?
There is a lot of speculation on just when George will return, as the Clippers have been tight-lipped on the matter. It was initially reported that he would only be back for the second round but there have been rumblings in recent weeks that he would only miss the beginning of the first-round series against Phoenix.
With the scheduling being the way it is, he looks set to miss multiple games, at the very least, and the Clippers will need to find a way to win a game or two without him. That is going to be hard as the Suns are unbeaten with Kevin Durant in the lineup and are regarded by the likes of Reggie Miller as the favorites to get to the Finals from the Western Conference. Kawhi Leonard will have to come up big if the Clippers are to succeed and we have seen him elevate his game to another level in the postseason.
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