That Chemistry Issue The Clippers Whined About? Apparently It's Because Montrezl Harrell Got Into It With Paul George In The Huddle During Game 2
[Yahoo] - The rapport simply wasn’t there for the Clippers, and it certainly wasn’t there in Game 2 when Montrezl Harrell and George got into a heated verbal exchange during a timeout, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Early in the second quarter, a struggling George had committed two careless turnovers in less than a minute. The second mishap was a half-court pass to Harrell, who was near the paint but surrounded by Murray and Michael Porter Jr.
Murray picked off the pass. Seconds later, the Clippers called a timeout.
Harrell approached his teammate about the risky pass, with George not taking responsibility and arguing the pass could have been caught had Harrell made the right play, sources said.
Harrell responded with something along the lines of, “You’re always right. Nobody can tell you nothing,” and expletives were uttered from both players, sources said. George eventually toned down his rhetoric, but a heated Harrell wasn’t having it. Teammates began clapping on the sideline, in part to disguise what was going on and in an attempt to defuse the situation.
Earlier today I blogged about how the excuses the Clippers were rolling out after last night's choke were pathetic. The one thing they kept saying was how they didn't have the right amount of chemistry
And now this report by Chris Haynes implies it's all due to game 2. Game 2! This is even more pathetic than I initially thought. Paul George is so soft that he can't handle being wrong? That's highly concerning. Also part of the reason as to why we make fun of him for sucking ass in the playoffs - well that and the nickname Playoff P that he game himself. You can't give yourself a nickname, that's like rule number 1 you learn as a kid.
But this? Every team has something like this happen at some point. It just shows how soft Paul George actually is if this played a role in 'chemistry' issues for the next 5 games. And yeah Montrezl was pretty terrible defensively against Jokic, but at least he's right here. You have the right to go after a teammate if they fuck up. That's holding a teammate accountable. Paul George isn't good enough to treat him by wearing gloves.
At some point just gotta admit the Clippers are mental midgets. You can't roll out these sort of excuses and point to a 'heated argument' in the middle of game 2 as a reason why chemistry was a problem. You were still up 3-1. You were still up double digits in game 6 and 7. At some point you just choked because you're not strong enough. That's what happened.