With their backs against the wall once again in these NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers found a way to keep their season alive after beating the Phoenix Suns 116-102 in Game 5 on the road. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the Clippers now have 7 wins when trailing in a playoff series, the most in a single postseason in NBA history. 

What they have achieved in these NBA playoffs is quite remarkable and the fact that they are doing this without Kawhi Leonard is even more impressive! Paul George continued to impress without Kawhi in Game 5 and was the leading force to why the Clippers were able to stay alive. 

George scored a playoff career-high 41 points tonight on 15-20 shooting, but the most impressive aspect of his performance was what he did in the second-half. He scored 30 of his total points in the second-half of Game 5 and he shot 10-12 from the floor, 3-4 from three-point range! 

According to ESPN, Paul George has now scored 20+ points in each of the Clippers’ first 18 playoff games this postseason, joining the likes of Michael Jordan (3 times), Kobe Bryant (2008) and Kevin Durant (2012 & 2018). The most impressive part about this list though is that all of these previous players reached the NBA Finals that same season. 

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If Paul George is somehow able to comeback in this series and elevate the Clippers to the NBA Finals, his legacy will be cemented and all the talk of him being “Pandemic P” will subside. However, Los Angeles still has a lot of work to do in this series as they just won back one game. 

There is still a lot of basketball yet to be played in this series and after losing Game 5 on their home court, you better believe the Suns are going to come back looking for some vengeance in Game 6 on Wednesday. 

With that said, let’s take a look at the three biggest takeaways from the Clippers’ Game 5 victory and what each of these takeaways could mean for this series as we head back to Los Angeles for a big Game 6 in this Western Conference Finals series.