‘Players celebrated Christmas yesterday’: Paul George gives excuse for Clippers’ franchise record loss to Mavericks without Kawhi Leonard

Even in the shadow of a franchise record loss, Paul George found a way to take the spotlight away from his Clippers and put it on himself.

There are few adjectives that can accurately describe the demolishing the Mavs subjected the Clippers to today. There was no semblance of resistance at all from a Clippers team that looked disjointed and disinterested on both ends of the floor.

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Ty Lue seemed to have put it mildly when he said his team ‘lacked the pop’ at either end of the floor. The former NBA champion head coach would be nothing short of livid with his team. And it stands to reason as to why. Steve Ballmer was sat courtside through the entire game. It was definitely not a good look.

Paul George gives explanation for Clippers losing heavily to Mavericks

George said one of the reasons the team did not turn up for the game today was that they’d played on the road on Christmas Day:

“I take full responsibility… Tough situation being on road on Christmas… I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas yesterday and that was the reason for a sluggish day.”

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However desperately Paul George might want to explain it away, a 50-point loss is what it is. This game rules the Clippers out from any kind of shot at title contention. No team has ever won an NBA title despite being blown out by 40 at home. It matters little that they were missing their best player.