There has been quite literally nothing to complain about from Paul George, just like there was absolutely nothing to complain about from last night's Boston Celtics game against the Charlotte Hornets. It was a wire-to-wire victory where the game was pretty much wrapped up after the first quarter.
The Celtics put on quite a display in their second NBA Cup game, which bodes well for their chances of making a deep run. It overshadowed that George's stat line was kind of a yikes as a whole, but no one had any reason to care.
On the night, George shot three-for-11 from the field, with three turnovers to one assist. No one has bothered to call it out because Boston thoroughly dominated, so there's no reason to. For the record, this is not about trying to complain about George, because one, he has been awesome as a Celtic to start, which leads to two, he was due for a bad game at some point.
The fact that it happened last night demonstrates that the Celtics play like a unit. Even if George didn't play well, Jayson Tatum thoroughly dominated. Along with the help of Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and really just going all out and going scorched earth from three (FINALLY!), it shows that Boston's success is more on the team itself than on George.
George also factored into how they played that well
Despite his lackluster numbers, George had a plus/minus of plus-23 last night, tied for fourth-best last night behind Tatum, Pritchard, and Hauser. His being on the floor for a good portion of the damage Boston wreaked on Charlotte shows that even when his jumper isn't falling, he absolutely factors into their success.
The scoring numbers are lacking, but George had three stocks - two blocks and a steal - meaning he definitely factored into the Celtics' "possession-maxing" strategy. If his jumper had been falling, last night would have been a 50-point victory, instead of 39. It's a hard-knock life.
George will probably have more stat lines like last night, but no one will care for two reasons. One, his performances have ranged from quite good to excellent, which is what Boston wants. Two, if they dominate despite that, it won't matter if his shot isn't falling.
It's what makes this the perfect pairing between George and Boston. In the past, when he struggled, you better believe he would never hear the end of it, but because last night demonstrated the Celtics' strength in numbers, there was nothing to whine about, nor should there have been.
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