Paul George scores 23 points in preseason debut, Sixers fall to T-Wolves in Iowa originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Paul George has now done more than pose for pictures and practice with his teammates in a Sixers uniform.
The team’s star signing of the summer He made his preseason debut for the Sixers on Friday night. He played 26 minutes and scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting (4-of-9 from three-point range), six rebounds and two assists.
As for the game itself: The Sixers fell to 1-1 in exhibition work with a 121-111 loss to the Timberwolves.
Friday’s game took place at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, where Sixers head coach Nick Nurse once coached Grand View University and the Iowa Energy. Joel Embiid was not with the team due to a previously scheduled evaluation on his knee. the nurse told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The next stops on the Sixers’ preseason tour will be Saturday night against the Celtics and Monday against the Hawks.
In Des Moines, the Sixers started Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., George, Caleb Martin and Andre Drummond. They were scoreless for almost three minutes and fell 6-0. On his first field goal attempt, George missed a jumper late in the shot clock.
He finally got on the board with a layup and hit a 3-pointer about a minute later.
George was substituted with 33.6 seconds left in the first quarter. He had five points on 2-of-6 shooting, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in the first period.
His period in the second quarter was substantially more productive. George stole a rebound from Donte DiVincenzo’s reach and then placed the ball. He also hit a three-pointer on the Sixers’ next drive.
George hit another 3-pointer soon after, doing his usual smooth work on a Drummond ball screen and launching his shot over Timberwolves big man Naz Reid. The nine-time All-Star’s skills as a pick-and-roll ball handler and pull-up shooter should clearly be valuable when Embiid is off the court and the Sixers are looking for someone to create the offense.
George also made several solid dishes that didn’t result in assists, including a first-quarter skip pass to Maxey and a second-quarter pass to a streaking Drummond.
He scored the Sixers’ final points of the first half with a slick step-back three with about eight seconds left.
Like George, Oubre had no hesitation at all in shooting long-distance jumpers. He scored five three-pointers in the game and made three of them.
The Sixers bench made 0 of 8 field goals in the first half. Nurse used Kyle Lowry, Guerschon Yabusele, Eric Gordon and KJ Martin as his first four reserves. Early in the second quarter, he added rookies Jared McCain (nine points on 3-of-5 shooting) and Adem Bona to the mix.
Ricky Council IV and Reggie Jackson got extended minutes in the second half, although the Sixers’ starters returned early in the third quarter.
They opened the second half brilliantly. A 3-pointer by Maxey cut Minnesota’s lead to single digits and capped an 8-0 run.
The 23-year-old guard has been fluid, aggressive and efficient with his off-the-dribble three-pointers early this preseason. He had 21 points (7 of 14 from the field, 4 of 7 from three-point range) and two assists on Friday.
Drummond was another statistical standout, pulling down seven offensive rebounds and eight defensive rebounds in 24 minutes. He had 10 points and two steals.
Once trailing by 20 points, the Sixers continued their comeback early in the fourth quarter.
McCain hit a pair of 3-pointers, including one off a nice Council drive-and-kick, and a layup by Jeff Dowtin Jr. cut the team’s deficit to 107-105. However, the Sixers’ deep bench players ultimately couldn’t overcome the hurdle.
