{"id":148790,"date":"2026-03-26T06:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/148790\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T06:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:23:11","slug":"paul-george-returns-to-boost-76ers-playoff-push-after-25-game-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/148790\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul George returns to boost 76ers’ playoff push after 25-game suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Paul George returned to the 76ers\u2019 lineup<\/a> following a 25-game suspension for a failed drug test<\/a> and scored 28 points on Wednesday night in Philadelphia\u2019s 157-137 win over Chicago.<\/a><\/p>\n

Playing for the first time since Jan. 29 due to a violation of the NBA\u2019s drug policy<\/a>, he missed 8 of 10 field goals in the opening half and had five points, but scored 23 points in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt pretty explosive, pretty strong,\u201d George said. \u201cI felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n

George was cheered throughout, especially after converting on three consecutive possessions early in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was bringing back classic moments in my scoring bag, where I can be explosive as a scorer and put points up quick,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s just me in the flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

George finished 11 of 22 from the field and 6 of 13 from long range.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he just needed to get the feel back a little bit,\u201d 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.<\/p>\n

George was grateful for his teammates\u2019 support. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were excited for me to come back out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Sixers went 13-12 in his absence and began the day at 39-33 and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

George was suspended in late January for violating the terms of the NBA\u2019s anti-drug program.<\/p>\n

In his first public remarks since the suspension<\/a>, George apologized Tuesday to the team, its fans and his family for the poor judgment that led to his flunked test.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo let people down hurt more than kind of anything,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

He said his choice to take a banned substance was connected to a mental health issue that developed because of an offseason knee injury that limited his production this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most difficult thing is when your body isn\u2019t where you know it needs to be or where it once was,\u201d George said. \u201cThat leads and bleeds into the mental side of things, knowing that you\u2019re limited. But for me, I feel good, my body is feeling great. Mentally, I know I\u2019m capable of doing what I can do and what I\u2019ve been able to on the court for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

George entered Wednesday averaging 16 points in 27 games this season for the Sixers. He had one of his best games in the week he was suspended, a 32-point outburst fueled by nine 3-pointers in a win over Milwaukee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old George signed a $212 million, four-year contract<\/a> in free agency ahead of the 2024 season. But his first year in Philly was marred by knee and adductor injuries that resulted in the forward having one of the worst years of his NBA career.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Paul George returned to the 76ers\u2019 lineup following a 25-game suspension for a failed drug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[22427,11248,64849,24753,4794,10377,49584,40,15352,28,69,1002,71,70,726],"class_list":["post-148790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-athlete-injuries","tag-drug-crimes","tag-il-state-wire","tag-illinois","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nick-nurse","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-paul-george","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}