Breaking Down PAUL GEORGE’s Season DEBUT – Locked On Philadelphia 76ers

Breaking Down PAUL GEORGE’s Season DEBUT – Locked On Philadelphia 76ers

This is locked on 76ers. He’s Keith Pompei. I’m Mark Farzetta. 76ers get the big win over the Clippers last night by being able to come alive in that second half. Quinton Grimes a big part of that. But the headline of last night, Paul George makes his 2025 2026 season debut. We’ll break it all down and more on this edition of Locked on 76ers. You are Locked On 76ers, your daily Philadelphia 76ers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And we do thank you for making Locked On 76ers your first listen every day. Part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day. Locked on Podcast Network, by the way, the number one sports podcast network recently crowned. So we appreciate all the support you’ve been giving all of us across locked on platforms uh over the last year. Keith last night Paul George goes out there in total logs 21 minutes for the 109876ers. Comes up on two of nine shooting. He also comes up on nine points, seven rebounds. And one of the first things Tyrese Maxi mentioned after last night’s victory over the Clippers was how clutch PG was defensively. What did you make of Paul George’s season debut? You know what? Paul George was okay, but he was better than expected. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, you know what I mean? So, it was it was okay. Like offensively when he first came out and Maxi swung that ball to him and he hit the three and then the next time he comes down, he gets fouled and he scores the games, not just the Sixers first five, but the game’s first five points. you’re thinking, “Okay, okay, we’re going to see something here.” And then I think he missed like five shots in a row and then he turned over. Um, and then all of a sudden he he made a basket and then he misses his his next three. But on the defensive end, Maxi is right. And I but I feel like in the second half, he was better on the defensive end. It was kind of like he was testing out his his knee or or seeing everything and unsure of himself before the mission. But you know what? He looked like a quality role player, right? And we talked about that as somebody who can defend, someone who can um, you know, grab rebounds, uh, boards. So, he looked good, you know, you know, he well, he was better than expected because I didn’t see, you know, normally when a person comes off of a knee injury, you want to look and check to see like how are they moving laterally. Well, he he looked good and there were certain times he was beating people to the spot on their defense. So, and he also looked like he bulked up, too. So, you know, when you look at PG and you see what he said, you got to say, you know, this is something that they could build upon. I don’t know if he’ll offensively will ever go back to be the guy he was. Now, one thing I will say, he was getting off the shots. They just weren’t falling. So, unlike last year when he couldn’t get by people, he got by people. It was just the shots just weren’t falling. Yeah, the Sixers started out something crazy like four for 19 from three. Like in in general, the shots weren’t falling and PG was certainly a victim of that. Well, I will say during that five fivepoint spurt, if you can even call it that, at the beginning of the game, I was thinking, okay, well, what are we going to get here, PG? Because I have a very low bar for you. I bet my bar for Paul George last night was get me some rebounds, check. play 20 minutes, check. I If he gets double digits in scoring, great. But I wasn’t expecting it last night. But after he rattled off five right out of the gate, I went, “Oh boy, could we get 20 20 points in 20 minutes?” type of thing. That was obviously wasn’t in the cards. But still better than expected. Uh, one thing when the game was over and I was listening to Paul George just talk about his conditioning, I think a lot of people might look at it and even listen to us say, “Hey, good first step.” type of thing. I am not expecting Paul George to be a 50 mil $51 million player really at any point this year. And I know that really sucks when you’re paying a guy that much money and you even use the term role player. That’s more or less what he’s going to be. I think this is a situation where the Sixers have to just get what they can out of Paul George. And if he can give you good defense, if he can get you rebounds, if he can be an occasional facilitator and knock down the three-point shot similar to the way he did uh when he shot over 40% I think it was in his last year with the Clippers, then that’s you’re talking about still a valuable player. Not 51 million, but you’re still talking about a valuable player there. So, I think that’s something that I I I want to stress at least when it comes to the expectations overall. I’m certainly not doing cartwheels. I’m not saying 51 million is justified in a nine-point game, seven rebound game, but all I could say is with Paul George after fir after after this one, yeah, it’s going to take a minute for his conditioning to get up. I can’t imagine the relief he felt when he knocked down that first shot. And when you talk about conditioning, this unfortunately is still going to be a work in progress for him. Yeah. And and you know, it’s going to be a work in progress. One thing that I was encouraging, there was one play where um on the defensive end and VJ Edgecom was late. It was like, you know, he had to close out on somebody and Maxi went over there and the guy shot like a three over Maxi. So, it looked as if like Maxi was like, “Yo, what are you doing?” But he was actually compensating for VJ mi missing um the assignment. Um, and PG kind of got into him was like, “Yo, get over there.” Like, you know, he was saying stuff like he wasn’t cursing him out or anything, but it was like while it was going on, PG saw it and was like, “Yo, go over there.” They call the Sixers call a timeout and then you see PG talking to him. You see Maxi talking to him. But to me, I like that. I like that like that type of leadership like, yo, you know, and um you make sure you get over there, you got to do what you got to do. So yeah, it’s like the role player stuff, but but but also the leadership because let’s face it, he’s he’s a ninetime all-star, a guy who’s a great defender, and VJ Edgecom aspires to be a more than ninetime all-star, and he wants to be a great defender. So having him um giving him instructions and and and getting on him, you know, to me, I think is is is a is a plus. Is a plus. Yeah, I I agree. I I think you need that kind of kind of leadership. You mentioned VJ Edgecom. Let’s just jump into this real quick. Rough night for VJ and I don’t even really mean much on the stat sheet. The Paul George situation you just laid out there and again not cursing him out but still being a leader acknowledging a mistake trying to work with the young man. Then Nick Nurse also lays into VJ Edgecomb at halftime telling he basically needs to be more aggressive. If he’s got a lane he’s got to take it. And he wasn’t seeing enough from him. that gets highlighted by Nick Nurse postgame. TJ or excuse me, uh, Tyrese Maxi highlights it postgame as well. VJ, was was he hanging his head a little bit? Did you get that feeling? What was going on with VJ last night? No. No. And it’s See, it’s it’s a catch 22. It really is. Like, so the deal is you’re VJ Edgecom. You’re you’re basically um playing at one minute, you know, you the first game they’re telling you you and Maxi are the star, but then all of a sudden it becomes Joel Embiid, we got to get him the ball, get him involved. Now all of a sudden it’s like, okay, Paul George has to get involved. Like you sometimes you got to you trying to fit in, you know what I mean? You don’t want to like overstep your bounds. You’re doing things and but they’re telling you be aggressive, be aggressive, be aggressive. So, it’s something that you got to figure out. Like, let’s be honest, Tyrese Maxi had to figure that out, too. I mean, he had to. And then he, you know, once Nick Nurse came, it it kind of like benefited him like because Nick was like the one like, “No, you got the ball now. Now you got to do it.” So, I just feel like he has to be aggressive. But, it was also one of those things where this was Paul George’s night. Paul George is a guy who you watched play growing up. A guy who you know has been like we said ninetime all-star, six time all defensive performer. You’re sitting there like thinking, “Okay, we’re going to get him the ball.” And but so right now it’s just a matter of him learning how to pick his spots and do a lot of things. Like I think we forget that it’s only been 13 games for him in his career, you know, 13. So, I I I have faith that he’ll he’ll get it together. I I I have faith. I I I honestly do. And and like they’re saying, “Hey, swing the ball. Do this. Do that. Oh, no. Go downhill and dunk on somebody.” Like, you know what I mean? So, like he has to figure out like he has to figure out the flow of the game when it’s best for me to swing it and when it’s best for me to just say, “Forget all of y’all. I am him.” and I’m gonna come down and lane and and embarrass a couple fools. So, yeah, he has to figure that out. Yeah, just on VJ’s for VJ’s side of things here. Third quarter, I know he came out, he looked like a I mean, I don’t want to say he was a different man, but he definitely looked like he was playing with a little bit more purpose. Uh he had the great he got the great pass from Grimes, kind of threading the needle. He got the slam out of that early on in the third. Then in the fourth quarter, you start to see him come alive again. Knocks down a jumper to cut the lead to a five-point lead there for the Clippers. Ended up hitting that big three. I think it was to it was either to give the Sixers Yeah, it was to give the Sixers a one-point lead. 98 97. So, you definitely saw him get a little bit more aggressive. But one of the things that Maxi did mention was he was going to bust his chops about the O for two from the foul line late in that fourth quarter, but he realized he already had a little bit of a rough night between PG and Nick Nurse. He was like, I’m going to let him go on this one. I’m going to let him go on this one. So, I thought that was a good call um by Tyrese Maxi. Um, hey, speaking of Tyrese Maxi, we got to talk about those 31 points last night, how he got those. Uh, also, I’m going to recap just the ins and the outs of Paul George when we come back as well to put a bow on that conversation because it wasn’t just the 21 minutes, it’s how those 21 minutes were allotted. We’ll get to that and more when we return. This is Locked On 76ers and the Locked on 76ers YouTube channel. And right now, I’m going to tell you about Ripling. You guys taking advantage of what Ripling is offering? I sure hope so. Ripling, ladies and gentlemen, is for business owners. And here’s the truth. You know, um, SAS promised to make work easier. That’s SAS. But now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams. Simply don’t work for really don’t work for you. And that’s not SAS. That’s sad. Software as a disservice. That’s why you need Ripling. 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That’s promo code locked on NBA for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, it’s good to be right. Just to put a bow on Paul George, uh he was out there for every start of every quarter against the Clippers last night. played usually midway to late into the seventh minute. So 627 he was taken out, 654 he was taken out in the uh first quarter and second quarter. Then got the bulk of his minutes played till the 441 mark of the third quarter, Keith. And then was taken out early, which I think is a good move there in the fourth quarter, especially by a guy just trying to get his legs under him. Taken out just after the four-minute mark or just before the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Um, I thought that was if you’re going with a minute restriction, he played 21 minutes. Uh, technically I I think that’s the right way to go about it. If you’re Nick Nurse, if you’re going to overload one quarter, test him in the third. Yeah, I guess I mean I Yeah, that’s true. I mean, that’s what you did for Well, not really. Joel was in the first half of those games. But but yeah, but my thing is if he’s one of your better players, sometimes you might want him on the floor when it comes down to closing out, especially defensive. You know what I mean? Especially if Quinton Grimes would have got called for that foul at the end. You like, “Oh, maybe you should have had PG in the game on them, right?” That’s what people would have said. But yeah, I mean, they’re doing they have a plan. They’re they’re going to do it. I just, you know, it’s cool. Maybe they probably didn’t think he would be up for it up to the task of closing out a game this early. So, it worked out. But, but yeah, I I get what you’re saying. I just wish that when when if I got my I want my five best players on the floor to close out the game. Okay. I just want my five best. But from a staggering uh standpoint, although Maxi played the entire second half, but from a staggering standpoint, you do have another uh great option uh to start off a quarter or to start off the fourth quarter with him being out there. Yeah, I I’ll say I if you’re going to have him not close out a game, the first game he’s back is the game I’ll be okay with. You take him into Milwaukee, that’s where I’ll have a little bit of a pro. I would want him, especially after this first game, absolutely have him out there. Um, last night, do you think he was one of the one of the five best players out there? I think on a defensive end he was like, you know, defensively, I mean, like, you know, offensively he struggled, but he did have two blocks. He did a couple things and and my thing is is like even if he uh wasn’t um he’s still Paul George, you know what I mean? like you still get um some leadership, you get a lot of other things from him, you know. I I think that I mean Maxi was baking so you didn’t need him to score points. Edgecomb was bake and not Edgecomb. Grimes was bacon in the fourth quarter. You didn’t need that. So was So was uh Drummond getting opportunity. So with that being said, yeah, I would have had him out there for the defensive event. Yeah, you know, I had him out there. Uh speaking of that fourth quarter and speaking of that second half, especially with Tyrese Maxi, uh you’re talking about a guy who had 12 points at the half, finished with 39 points in the game in total. 14 of the 39 came in the fourth quarter alone. Again, 39 points on the night. There was one point, Keith, where he was having another game where it was like 21 points on 21 shots. And you’re like, you don’t want that AI number. I know that’s always the associate of 40 points for 40 shots and all that, but you don’t want to make a habit of that with Tyrese Maxi, especially when other guys around you can score and uh I was a little worried in that first half, but in the second half he really started to come alive for this team. Obviously, you talk about end ending with 39 points, another 30-point performance for him. I believe eighth now on the season. He just for me, Keith, he just continues to grow. Had six assists last night, which I know is not a huge brag. Four of those came in the first half, but this is a guy that is just continuing to find ways to help this team close out games. Yeah. And he has to. I mean, you know, Nick Nurse had a conversation with him and BJ Edgecom on Sunday. Basically asked them four questions. And you know, I’m paraphrasing you guys. Are you guys tired? They said, “Nope.” “Are you guys playing too many m?” No. He says, he says, “Are you okay?” He said, “Yep.” “Are you playing too many minutes?” “Nope.” “You sure?” “Yep.” Are you guys looking for some help? Nope. Right. So, um it’s one of those things where he says like listen, you know, you got to suck it up right now and they are doing it. Play 40 plus minutes and lead us in scoring. We need that. Like, you know, Joel Embiid when he comes back, he’s going to help out with some of it. When PG when PG gets up to speed and other people get get up to speed, they’re going to help out. But right now is up to you two guys to go out there and do the scoring. And Maxi did his like, you know, you talked about 14 points in the fourth quarter, but he scored 37 of excuse me, 27 of his 39 in the second half, right? I mean, he he played well, he had 13 points in the third, 14 in the fourth. So, you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, he’s second in the league in scoring at 32.4 points. I believe it is at four. Is it either four or five? But it it’s it’s like he has to be this guy in order for the 76ers to win games right now. And and you know what? He he’s holding up to his bargain now. He’s allowing a lot of minutes, 40.4 minutes per game, which is a lot. But at the same time, that’s what he has to do. So a day like today, they’re practicing. I don’t want to see him doing much, you know, after after after they play the back, bro. Relax for a couple days. But but on the floor, they going to they need him to to do what he’s doing. Carry the 76ers. Yeah, some whirlpool time. I think he’s overdue for Tyrese Maxi. There was a thought that went through my head in that third quarter. And look, the Sixers for the second straight game didn’t completely fall apart in the third quarter, which is good. I think it was a 23-23 game in terms of scoring overall in that third quarter. Um, which is a step in the right direction for the Sixers who just a couple of games ago were minus 9 and a half in terms of point differential in the third quarter, worse than the NBA. Now magically they have it down to minus 7 and a half going into the third quarter yesterday. So that’s down even further now with it being even obviously. So for me, there was one point though, despite the even scoring in that quarter, that the Sixers just looked like a team that was still learning how to win. And I think a lot of went into that thinking was the fact that the Clippers were on the backtoback. The Sixers clearly weren’t. James Harden hasn’t gotten any younger yet. He was I mean, he burned Maxi on a crossover that Maxi even acknowledged in the post game. Uh he crossed over I think it was Trended Wadford at one point. The thing that changed the tide for me wasn’t just Maxi going offensively. It was Grimes defensively and offensively. Grimes also chipped in nine of his 19 in that fourth quarter if my math is correct. And he seemed to be the right answer. We’ll get more to the defensive side of things, but just on the offensive side of things, how clutch was Quinton Grimes down the stretch as well? Yeah, I mean it was like how it was in the beginning of the season, you know, where you had in the fourth quarter it was like it was always about Quinton Grimes and Maxi, you know what I mean? Like Maxi, it was at one point Maxi was one of the league leader. Well, both of them were amongst the league leaders in fourth quarter points. I don’t know if they I know Maxi still is. I’m not sure if Grimes is, but early in those first four or five games, you know, I think Grimes might have been number five on the list where Maxi was uh th third. So, yeah, I mean, like that was that basically last night reminded me of those earlier games. And if you notice, you know, Grimes was the one he would be left open at times and he would hit a clutch three and we like, “Okay, okay.” Hey, you know, Maxi come down and drive the lane or he’ll do a step back. But but yeah, Grimes, he had a pretty good overall game in that fourth quarter. Um he he really lit it up for him. He stepped up. Yeah, I know. I thought he absolutely stepped up and it looked like there were a number of defensive variations, the looks that they tried to give James Harden throughout the night. Uh I forget what it was in the first quarter. Uh Harden had 17 points in the first quarter. So, the first idea to stop James Harden wasn’t working so well. The Sixers were finally able to crack that code a little bit later in the game. We’ll get to that and what Quinton Grimes had to do with that when we return. This is Locked on 76ers and Locked on Sixers YouTube channel. 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Yeah, that’s right, Roui. Let’s be real. Making excuses doesn’t solve anything. You’ve all heard it before. It’s a stress. I’m tired. It happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. That’s where Rouiiet comes in. rouia.com offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Roui makes it easy to get started. You just connect with a boardcertified doctor. 100% online. No awkward waiting rooms. No inperson appointments if prescribed. Your treatment ships directly and discreetly to your door. Visit rouge.com/lockedonba to get 15% off your first order. That’s rugg.com/lockedon NBA. And don’t forget, use our promo code locked on NBA so they know that we sent you Rouiiet. Stop making excuses and start making moves. Keith, I’ll tell you who’s making moves in a totally different context in the Sixers game in the fourth quarter. And that was really what what happened. Where was I in the fourth quarter? Uh Quinton Grimes making moves. So let me see if I got this. Now I don’t mean that it was on purpose all the time. However, Maxi was on Harden, cooked him once on a crossover to his right. Uh Trenon Watford was on him at one point. They were running a boxing one at one point. And then the guy that really put a hitch in the giddy up of James Harden was Quinton Grimes. Keith, he seemed to be the best match up there. Now look, down the stretch, you hope that a guy like Kelly Ubé is obviously back sooner rather than later and healthy and can do that. You hope a guy like Paul George is up to the task and can do it, but Quinton Grimes really showed me something defensively last night. I was really impressed by by really his effort, especially in the fourth quarter. We’ll get to that final possession, but overall, what did you make of Quinton Grimes on James Harden? I thought he played he did a great job. I mean, you know, Quinton Grimes is funny because like every like every like every few games he’ll do something you’re like, “Man, he’s a great addition.” Like he’s a great piece. You know what I mean? like and and you know the thing is a lot of people always talk about Quinton Grimes defensive performance but I’m known more as a offensive player and and last night he did knock down some great you know shots but at the same time you’re right he was and I don’t want to say he neutralized James but he did a really good job on James right yeah I think that’s fair yeah he did he did a he did a great job on him you know Maxi shouldn’t have been guarding him shouldn’t have been guarding him you Grimes was a great person for him the guard. So yeah, I got to give him lots of props and and again he keeps showing you why he can be an important piece for this Sixers team. Yeah, there was there was a point there where I was thinking about what you and I talked about yesterday quoting Nick Nurse when Nick Nurse was talking about Kelly Ubé finding his offense through his defense. And I I felt very similar with Quinton Grimes where I I think of him true as an outside shooter, a guy that can run your second team. I I certainly think of that, but it’s all offensive. Defensively, I think of him as an above average willing defender. Like people used to say this all the time with Ben Simmons, like of course he looks great because he really wants to play good defense when a lot of the league doesn’t really care about defense. So anybody that’s even willing looks better than they really are in comparison. But Grimes reminds me of that from the smaller, not of course a 69, 610 guard position, but more of the 6’4 65 guard position that he is. Um, he really wants to go out there and make a difference. Like he really just wants to go out there and help his team win any way he can. And when he he got the number when he got called to uh go up there and D up James Harden, he was really wherever Harden was, that’s where he was. And I loved seeing that from him. Now, when it comes to the final 11 seconds of the game, let me just say I think it’s absolutely garbage that that was a a foul taken away from Nico Batum. I don’t know how you could reach across the chest of another player and it not be a foul, but that’s the way it was called. So, they get the ball with what 11.8 seconds left on the clock. The the Clippers get the inbounds play. It goes to Harden. Grimes get dees him up. Absolutely. I mean, he hit the elbow. That’s to me, he fouled him, but they didn’t call it, so oh well. But they get the second chance opportunity. It goes in the corner to James Harden. Grimes, I’ll use the word, scampers over to DM him up. He misses the shot again. All is fair and love and war. They don’t get the final bucket. They don’t get the win. The 76ers are able to close it out there. Uh, I’ll say this about Grimes. Yeah, I do think it was a foul, but he was right there both times to make sure Hard didn’t knock down that shot. Wait, wait. What do you got? What are you doing? What is that? Are you waving it off? He was hacking the real He got away with But yeah, but you know what it is what it is, man. Stuff happens, right? Stuff happens. Like, here’s the deal. like, you know, the Sixers are going to have to win some controversial games. They’re going to have to get get some lucky, get some like benefit from some calls or no calls. And that’s what happened. Like when the last two-minute report comes out today, people are going to be like, “Oh, people in uh in LA are going to be like, “Oh, they were robbed. They were robbed.” You know, this and that. So, it is what it is. Um you know what? We don’t know if James is going to go down there and make all three foul shots if he make two or probably would have. be the great free throw shooter, but at the same time, the Sixers would have had an opportunity at 6.3 seconds left to take it the length of the court or or maybe call a timeout and and inbounds it down there and and and basically um win the game. So, with that being said, it is what it is, but stuff happens all the time in sports and you know, the Sixers were were fortunate, but a win is a win, right? Do you think Batum got away with one? Uh, I I don’t know. I mean, maybe. Like, it was I didn’t get to see the replay, but all I know is he sold it well from where I was at. No. No. But see, you got to understand something. The Sixers were getting the benefit of a lot of calls early on. And Baton was complaining about it and this and that. And I love Nico, but I mean, he wasn’t like whining, but he was just like, “Yo, you didn’t call that. You didn’t do this and that.” And sometimes it had the chance of uh balancing itself out, but it balanced itself out at the wrong time, I guess, for some Sixers fans. But guess what? They got the good no call at the end. Yeah, they absolutely did. All right. 76ers, of course, get the 1108 victory over the Clippers last night. They improved to 8 and5 on the season. Tomorrow night, they got the Raptors in South Philly. 7:00 start time for that one. Look forward to watching the Sixers take on the Raptors again. Uh though they do have the back-to-back uh Wednesday night, tomorrow night here in Philly. Then they travel to Mille Walke for an eight o’clock tip off with the Bucks. You’ll be out there for that one. Is Embiid playing tomorrow night? Is Embiid playing in Milwaukee? What’s going on? I don’t know, man. Answer that one. I mean, I don’t even think they know. I mean, but then Nick Nurse said he’ll he’ll be back. He said he’ll be back shortly. I mean, all I know is when we went in the locker room in in Detroit, he didn’t even play, but you go in the locker room after the game and he was icing both of the knees, so Oh, jeez. Yeah. So, we’ll see. All right. Well, see him next month. No. All right. Kidding. Kidding. Kidding. All right. All right. Uh, his name is Keith Bump. My name is Mark Farzetta. Make sure you guys like and subscribe. Locked on 76ers. Josh Lloyd, by the way, has you covered for Locked On Fantasy Basketball. Make sure you guys check out that podcast wherever you get your podcast. Also on the Locked On Sports Network, the number one sports podcast network. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Catch you guys tomorrow when we break it all down. Locked on 76ers. See you guys then. Bye. Peace.

Keith and Marc talk about how Paul George impacted the Sixers in his 2025-2026 season debut.

The show also discusses Tyrese Maxey leading the Sixers’ come back and close out in their win over James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers. Quentin Grimes 4th quarter surge and defensive effort is also talked about.

Segment 1: PG’s debut!

Segment 2: Maxey’s 39pts

Segment 3: Grimes up for the James Harden challenge.

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