Paul George Makes an Impact in his Debut
Finally, after a much-awaited debut, Paul George debuted with the Sixers.
Even though they lost and he forgot the score at the end of the game, they played a pretty good game against a strong team.
Not to mention, they still don’t have Embiid.
Maxey More Efficient
Maxey has started inefficiently this season. Since teams only had to worry about him scoring, he had under 30% shooting from 3 – a huge leap down from 37.3% last year.
Now that they had another strong option, Paul George, Maxey could find a much better selection in his shots. He shot 6/14 from 3 last night and 12/22 overall. He scored 32 points and is also one of four players in the NBA, averaging over 30 points. With help from George and eventually Embiid, Maxey could take on the primary scoring role of this team and lead the league in scoring.
Lots of Bench Scoring
PHOTO: Joe Camporeale/Imagn Images
By inserting George into the lineup, Kyle Lowry moved to the bench. With him running point in the second offense, he, Gordon, and Yabusele scored in double digits off the bench. Combined, they shot 10/21 from 3. Paul George obviously requires a ton of defensive focus from teams.
Now, we see a true wing threat that this team has been lacking for many years. He’s a vet who knows how to find his open teammates. He can help get open shots with assists and hockey assists for open shots at the three-point line. Lowry and Yabusele made huge use of that spacing.
Yabusele, specifically, looked very impressive in his reduced role, with George coming into play. He had to play backup center for many minutes, but he still stretched the floor. He shot 5/11 from three and scored 19 points. We shouldn’t expect this much production from him the whole season, but if he can grab 7 rebounds in 19 minutes and shoot so efficiently, he will make a huge impact this season and possibly earn a larger role.
Major Impact
It says the team already let him take the final possession to tie/win the game. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but he makes a very positive impact on this team. The Suns are 6-1 now and should strongly compete for a top spot in the West.
The Sixers came within one possession of beating them without their best player on the court.
The season has started very slowly, but they can still compete with this team and will be a very, very good team when fully healthy.
Sixers fans should remain positive about this team. Although they aren’t doing great now, they still have the makings of a very good team.
PHOTO: Joe Camporeale/Imagn Images
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