There has never been a better scoring debut for a Boston Celtics player than what we saw from Paul George in his first regular season game with his new team, his 38 points a franchise record previously held by Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis. But the offensive explosion that saw George turn back the clock in a major way came in a 121-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons. The veteran forward shared his perspective on that historic debut in an otherwise inauspicious loss, saying (via CLNS Media) that it "felt great felt great competing with these guys" as he found his rhythm on the court early in the game, his improved health helping him with "feeling like myself in my body again."
"(I) know tried to give everything but ended up short," he added. "But for me personally a lot to the journey to get here, a lot to be proud of, but I'm not a moral victory guy, so it means nothing. We lost. We've just got to get ready for the next one."
"I just thought they played Detroit basketball," said George. "They're a gritty team. They play hard. They play tough. They changed the personnel out a little bit, and I thought their energy guys made a huge impact."
As to what went sideways for Boston, the new Celtic said "it's us figuring each other out. It's a learning process. We'll learn, we'll make adjustments, how to get better looks, better opportunities for one another, how to alleviate pressure and make the game easy for one another."
"That was a game though we rebound and we get the possessions we want being up (22 points in the third quarter), we would have – not to say this would have been an easy matchup – but if we're in a driver's seat like that, we'll learn how to close those kind of games."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Paul George on historic Boston Celtics debut, loss to Pistons