The important number from Paul George's Game 2 was not 19 by itself. It was 19 that did not ask the whole game to bend around him.
Philadelphia beat Boston 111-97 and finally got the kind of playoff contribution it imagined when it brought George in. But this was not the old fantasy of George arriving as a full co-driver next to Joel Embiid. Embiid was still out, recovering from an appendectomy, and the Sixers won with a different structure entirely. Tyrese Maxey supplied the late surge. V.J. Edgecombe, a rookie playing only his second playoff game, gave them 30 points. George's job was to stop the game from fraying between those bursts.
That is a real role, and for this roster it may be the more honest one.
When Maxey and Edgecombe combined for 59, Philadelphia did not need George to chase volume. It needed clean possessions, a veteran line that made sense, and someone who could keep the offense connected when the obvious creators were carrying the dramatic load. Nineteen points on 7-of-13 shooting reads like support work because it was support work. The point is that the support held.
That matters more than the old label. George was signed to feel like a star solution. On this night he looked more like a playoff stabilizer. There is less glamour in that description, but also less confusion. If Embiid's status remains uncertain for the rest of the series, the Sixers are not searching for a replica of their original plan anymore. They are searching for repeatable ways to survive.
Game 2 suggested one. Let Maxey supply the closing force. Let Edgecombe bring the fearlessness. Let George make sure the floor does not tilt under either of them.
That is not the version Philadelphia thought it bought. It might be the version it actually needs.