Paul George just played arguably the best game of his career in the most important game of his career

After years of criticism in the postseason, George just proved emphatically how dominant he can be in the postseason

What was the best game of Paul George's career? It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer for such a decorated player. George has been steadily excellent for almost a decade, but largely lacks signature performances. He has never once scored 50 points in a game and has only four career triple-doubles. His career-high 48-point outing against the Utah Jazz in 2015 came in a loss. His best game score came in a 47-point, 15-rebound gem against the Brooklyn Nets in 2018, but that team was 8-18 at the time.  He'd never scored 40 in a playoff game entering Monday, nor did he reach 30 once in his legendary seven-game duel with LeBron James in the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals. His 37-point domination of the Jazz in Game 5 of the second round might be the answer, but it was quickly overshadowed by Terance Mann's 38 only a game later. Dig through George's game logs and you'll find plenty of gems, but no signature. He has never been defined by a single game.  But no single game could better encapsulate everything great about Paul George than the one he just played against the Phoenix Suns on Monday. Less than a year ago, he became a laughingstock by hitting the side of the backboard in a Game 7 as his Clippers blew a 3-1 lead against the Denver Nuggets. The Clippers entered Monday on the other side of the 3-1 equation, one loss away from elimination, and George answered with an unreal stat sheet.