PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Paul George would rather not have that stain of a 25-game suspension for flunking a drug test on his permanent record.
As unnecessary as that failure was, the layoff for the 35-year-old George — who spent most of his first two seasons with the 76ers sidelined with various injuries — came with a bit of a physical rebirth.
George got to rest, rehab and then play his way into the game shape and forget about the knee and adductor injuries — among others — that robbed the nine-time All-Star of his full potential that he flashed in his three previous NBA stops.
George hit a team-high five 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead the Sixers to a 106-93 win over the Celtics on Thursday night and force Game 7 Saturday night in Boston.
“I'm finally enjoying it now that I'm able to do things I was once able to do again,” George said. “It's fun again. It's like seeing who I am again. How can I be relevant again? How can I chase some of the things I was doing in my past?”
When the Sixers needed George to help rally them from a 3-1 deficit in their first-round series against Boston, he was as relevant, as valuable as he's been since he signed with the Sixers in the summer of 2024 on a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract.
Case in point, his role in the play of the game — and maybe the series — the third quarter when Kelly Oubre Jr. blocked Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey scooped the loose ball and fed to George on the break who then dazzled with a behind-the-back pass to VJ Edgecombe who finished with a thunderous dunk for a 69-54 lead.
“We keep stacking wins like this, man, who knows where we'll be?” George said.
New York sure would be nice.
Maxey, Edgecombe and Joel Embiid — who scored 19 points in his third game back since his appendectomy — have played their roles in the series comeback to near perfection. George was lost in the shuffle at times this season — in large part because of the suspension — but also because he deferred to the other three Sixers to do what they do best and let the offense run through them.
George reminded the Sixers why his arrival heralded the beginning of the so-called Big Three with Maxey and Embiid. The trio combined for 72 points in Game 6, 30 from Maxey.
“Once he came back from his 25 games, he had a mission,” Maxey said. “I think he's been accomplishing that mission.”
The mission was about leveling up to the expectations of his talent and contract while leading the Sixers — who haven't won an NBA title since 1983 — into a factor in the East.
“Before the suspension, I was kind of saving myself for games because of the soreness and I wanted to be as fresh as possible going into the games,” George said. “Now, I can focus on basketball.”
Last season was so miserable that George called his first year in Philly “rock bottom.”
He has the Sixers — thumped by 32 points twice in this series— on the brink of a first-round victory and a bit of NBA history.
The only team in NBA history to win a playoff series after losing two games by 30-plus points was the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959 against the St. Louis Hawks.
George added four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block in Game 6 and has averaged 18.2 points overall in the series.
“(He's) just doing a little bit of everything,” Embiid said. “We needed all of it.”
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