Paul George is giving the Celtics something they probably hoped for, but didn’t quite expect at this level: a defensive jolt that looks downright outrageous for a 36-year-old in his 17th season.
Nobody needed convincing that George could defend. His résumé already includes multiple top-five Defensive Player of the Year finishes, four All-Defense selections and a season leading the league in steals.
The question was whether that version of him would show up again with any real consistency. Even after the flashes he’s shown in recent years - including the playoffs against the Celtics last season - it still felt like a fair question.
So far, though, he’s answering it in a big way.
Through the early part of the season, George is averaging 6.9 deflections per 75 possessions, which ranks second in the NBA. Only Dyson Daniels of the Hawks is ahead of him, and George is sitting just above Matisse Thybulle, Kris Dunn and Ausar Thompson. That’s the company he’s keeping right now: players known almost entirely for defense, guys who usually live in short bursts on that end while their offensive role stays limited.
George doesn’t fit that mold at all. He’s 36.
He’s in Year 17. His last All-Defense nod came eight years ago.
And unlike those other names near the top of the list, he’s still carrying a major offensive load too, putting up 20.7 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game.
That’s what makes this start so striking. It’s one thing to hang around as a veteran and survive on guile.
It’s another to impact both ends like this, night after night, while still playing a central role in the offense. George has done that for the most part, even if he sat out in Houston on the second night of a back-to-back.
The sample is still small, and nobody is pretending otherwise. But the opening stretch has been about as encouraging as the Celtics could have hoped for. He looks like a seamless fit on both ends, and if this level holds - or even comes close - he becomes a major piece in their push for postseason success.
There’s also a bigger picture starting to emerge. George has a player option for next year, and he has already spoken positively about Boston, the organization and his desire to stay with the team for the rest of his career. If he keeps playing like this, that conversation won’t be hard for the Celtics to have.
In fact, it could move quickly from a nice idea to a real possibility: an extension that would let George finish his career in Boston while chasing the championship that still sits just out of reach.
In Other News...
Derrick Whites Slump Is Still Bugging Celtics For One Big Reason
Derrick Whites long-range touch has been one of the quieter concerns around Boston early on, even as the Celtics have kept winning and the offense has stayed productive. His three-point percentage has trended down from 38.4% in recent seasons to 29.3% this year, a dip that stands out because so much of Bostons spacing and ball movement depends on guards and wings who can punish defenses from deep.
There is a reason the Celtics have not been knocked off course by it, though. Whites overall shooting from the field has improved, and Bostons offense remains strong enough to absorb a cold stretch from one of its most important perimeter pieces. The bigger question is what happens if White finds his previous form again, because even a modest rebound there would give an already dangerous attack another layer defenses have to account for. [Read more 🡒]
Paul George Concern Is Already Hanging Over Bostons Biggest Gamble
Bostons blockbuster swap of Jaylen Brown for Paul George brought instant star power, but it also brought the kind of long-view anxiety that tends to follow a veteran wing with mileage on the clock. George has been productive early, giving the Celtics the kind of two-way presence they were clearly chasing, yet the trade has already been framed around a bigger question than his opening weeks: how much can Boston ask of him before the season starts asking back?
That concern is especially pointed because the Celtics did not make this move for October alone. The real test is whether George can still look like himself when the games matter most in the spring, and some around the league are already wondering how carefully Boston will have to manage his workload to get there. For a team that pushed its chips in, the gamble is less about what George can do now than whether he can hold up long enough to make the deal look right when the playoffs arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Have A Fourth Quarter Problem Fans Can't Ignore
The Celtics have done plenty right through eight games to sit at 6-2, but the closing minutes keep undercutting the bigger picture. A team that has built leads early and often has not been nearly as secure when the game tightens up late, with opponents repeatedly finding room to chip away in the fourth quarter and turn comfortable margins into uneasy finishes.
The common thread has been hard to miss for anyone tracking the rotations and the defensive possessions that follow. Bostons late-game issues have shown up most clearly on the perimeter, where opponents have been able to generate the kind of looks that fuel comeback runs, and the lineup combinations used in those stretches are starting to draw scrutiny for whether they are holding up well enough when the legs get heavy. [Read more 🡒]