Paul George on guarding Bulls’ Derrick Rose: ‘He would just float’

Paul George on guarding DRose: ‘He would just float’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

At this point in his career, Paul George is one of the biggest stars in the NBA. Over his 13-year career, George has been known as a consistent scorer and lockdown defender. He’s an eight time All-Star, and when he’s healthy he’s as effective as ever. There’s an argument to be made that he’s a future Hall of Famer. And some of his success is thanks to Bulls MVP Derrick Rose.

On a recent episode of George’s podcast, “Podcast P,” George recalled being tasked with guarding Rose in the first round of the 2010-11 playoffs, and how it shaped him as a young player. George was a rookie, and had only recently cracked the starting lineup, so he was surprised when Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said he’d be the man trying to stop Rose.

“It was crazy matching up with him and seeing him in front of me, because I’m not going to lie, that year, bro, he was untouchable,” George said on the podcast. “He was untouchable. He looked bigger than what he was, he looked taller than what he was, he just had a stature that was bigger than what he was.

“I felt I played good against him, then I look at the box score and (see) 40 (points). Like, god damn I thought I was on his sh– today.”

George said that what made Rose so special back then was his rare speed and quickness, his surprising size given his speed, and his unbelievable ability to finish at the hoop. Plus, “he had that bully in him.”

“His first step, he’s going to blow by you,” George siad. “His ability to contort his body, like he would do some sh– where he’ll start here, come back this way and finish back over here, like he just had so much sh– that he could do in the air, to the point that he was just dodging people. He was in the air dodging you, then he’ll come out and finish it. It was like he was floating. He would just float in the air.”

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Rose wasn’t just dominant with the ball in his hands. George recalled his ability to get sneaky blocks by chasing down a play from behind. One offensive play in particular illustrated how good Rose could be as a cutter.

“I remember one play– this was like, ‘Ok never do that sh– again’– the ball was out of his hands and I’m hearing from the bench ‘Deny it!’ Because one pass away, I get it, keep the ball out of his hands, make other people play… So I go out and try to deny him the ball, bro he back cut me so fast. My foot didn’t even plant yet to deny before he was already back cutting me. It was just like a moment, like ‘Alright, never do that sh– again.’ No deny. Coach, I’d rather guard him.”

It was a challenging start to George’s playoffs career, but he did improve as the series went on. After Rose put up 75 points in the first two games of the series, he was limited to 63 over the next three.

“From that series I learned a lot,” George said. “To be honest, that series took me deep into my career, in terms of, if I can guard him then I can matchup with anyone… because I’m not gonna play anyone faster than him, I’m not going to play anyone more explosive than him… So yeah, if I can stay in front of him, if I can matchup with him, and make it tough for him, then I can guard anybody else in the league. I took that and ran with it.”

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