Paul George and the Oklahoma City Thunder made their first visit to Staples Center to face the Lakers on Wednesday night, and the Laker faithful were quick to let the SoCal native know exactly how they felt about him snubbing them in free agency to remain in OKC.
Paul George hearing the boos from the Lakers crowd pic.twitter.com/W88LXBoQgA
— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) January 3, 2019
After picking up three quick fouls, George was able to settle in to his game in the second quarter and took over from there, dropping 37 points on the Lakers in a 107-100 Thunder win. George, Russell Westbrook, and the rest of his teammates seemed to embrace their villain role in L.A., with Westbrook strumming the air guitar to mock Lance Stephenson after George got an and-1 against his old Pacers teammate.
After the game, George told reporters he was not surprised by the boos and expected them coming in because he knew in their minds, “I’m the bad guy,” for not joining LeBron this summer.
Paul George on the reaction from Lakers’ fans: “I’m the bad guy.” Here’s him talking about tonight’s game pic.twitter.com/JzusVZYTWa
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) January 3, 2019
Steven Adams put it a bit more succinctly after the game, calling it “bullsh*t,” but noting that they have to play with that level of intensity and play for each other no matter the reaction of the fans.
Fans are well within their right to boo whomever they want, but it remains rather unwise to target an MVP candidate and basically ask them to bury you by giving them extra motivation to go off.
