LOS ANGELES — Three-plus seasons into his NBA career, and Isaiah Hartenstein has played beside three MVPs: James Harden and Russell Westbrook in Houston, and Nikola Jokic in Denver.
And as someone who’s enjoyed a front-row seat, the Clippers reserve center will tell you, the Paul George Show he’s witnessing now is just as impressive as any of those fellas’ performances.
What’s more, George might be doing, well, more.
“He’s definitely on that level,” Hartenstein said Saturday night after an easy 129-102 victory over Minnesota, in which George was needed for only 27 minutes over three quarters (and still had 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Hartenstein contributed nicely to the blowout, too, notching a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double, his first as a Clipper.
“He’s probably one of the guys that I’ve played with who really does it on both sides,” Hartenstein added. “I mean, it’s impressive, carrying a load on offense, but then doing what he does on defense. I mean, little things like taking charges, being in the right rotations, defending one of the best players on their team. He gave us a big lift.
“I think that as a star player, it makes our lives easier: Just to play hard.”
Having a star playing offense and defense at an astronomical level helps win games in ways that don’t show up on the stat sheets, Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue said before his team tipped off Sunday evening against the Chicago Bulls.
And those stat sheets have been pretty loaded, as Hartenstein mentioned: Entering Sunday’s game, George was averaging 26.43 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, the most in his career beside the 2018-19 season with Oklahoma City, when he finished third in MVP voting.
Now in his 12th season, George also entered the Clippers’ game against Chicago averaging career-highs in assists (5.3) and steals (2.3).
But there’s the more part:
“It means a lot, just the way that he’s playing,” Lue said. “Just down the stretch, taking big charges, having big blocks — when your best player’s doing that on a night to night basis, it just trickles down to everyone else.
“Like guys can step in and take charges if your best player is taking charges, if your best player is diving on the floor for a loose ball, then you definitely can do it, and he set that tone for us early in the season and guys are kinda following his lead.”
Now coaching the Bulls, Billy Donovan was George’s coach in Oklahoma City during his best season to date.
Donovan said Sunday he isn’t surprised by George’s great start this season, cast as the leading man while Kawhi Leonard rehabs after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the second round of the playoffs in June.
“That’s what makes him so unique, he really believes that he focuses first and foremost on the defensive end of the floor and he’ll find his way offensively,” said Donovan, echoing Hartenstein’s comments about George’s elite two-way proficiency.
“He likes to be able to play the game the right way. If the play calls to pass, he’s gonna pass it. If he’s called to be aggressive and shoot it, he’ll shoot it, but I think he reads the game and plays the game the right way, and he’s a guy I think players enjoy playing with ’cause he’s a two-way player and he makes other guys around him better because he is so unselfish.”
