Indiana Pacers: Paul George Keeps Turning It Up

Paul George started this year apprehensive about his role as a stretch power forward in the Indiana Pacers‘ new uptempo offense. Since that time, head coach Frank Vogel has moved Jordan Hill in the starting lineup and allowed George to take on his natural spot at small forward. Since then, he’s been showing why he’s still on of the league’s most feared perimeter players on both ends of the floor.

On the season, George is the Pacers’ leading scorer at 23.0 points per game. The team got off to a very slow start, losing three of its first four games, where George played mostly inefficient and in search of a rhythm. Just how bad was George’s stretch? Well he only made 15 of his 43 attempts (32 percent shooting).

The last few games have resulted in better outputs for George and three straight wins until the team‘s Sunday night loss. George has shot at least 44 percent in each of those games.

Back to back contests against the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers have been the best Paul George has played since the 2013-14 season. In those games, George has averaged 34 points (52 percent shooting), 11.5 rebounds and nearly five assists per game. It’s a small sample size, but the monstrous numbers can’t be ignored when talking about a player getting back to top-tier status.

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As the Pacers’ best defender, George has been able to pour in the points while defending the likes of Luol Deng, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. While he takes his licks defending such talented offensive players, he’s definitely giving them back out.

The good news for Indiana is that they have their star back. While they still search for an identity on offense, the team knows where to go for big plays. After Friday’s win against the Heat, George Hill expressed the team’s gameplan going forward with George in mind:

Let’s hope George continues to trend upwards this year for the Pacers for and the NBA.