Indiana Pacers: Paul George’s Comeback Season
Paul George only played in six games last season. He has played in all 42 so far this year, putting up career high numbers to become an Eastern Conference All-Star starter.
When Paul George took the court on Aug. 1, 2014 for a USA team scrimmage, he never thought what happened could actually happen to him. It is a date and an event that most basketball fans, not just Indiana Pacers fans, would like to forget.
For people who don’t remember, George jumped in the air to contest a James Harden jump shot and when he came down, he suffered one of the worst leg breaks that anyone could ever witness. The videos of this break are so bad many can’t even watch it all the way through.
This injury caused players to look away and the game was ended right away. It was the injury that caused Kevin Durant to drop out of the United States team that year. It was a very long and trying road to recovery for George and many thought his basketball career could be over, or that he would never be the same player as he was before the injury, at least.
It was an idea that made sense. Many players that go down with a major injury never really fully recover. In a case like Paul George, who is a star player, it is very rare that he would be able to get back to his dominating way of play.
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He did manage to play last year. It was only six games and it came at the very end of the season, but to see him back on the court was a great sight, not only for Pacers fans, but for anyone who enjoys comeback stories.
Fast forward to the start of the 2015-16 NBA season. Starting at small forward for the Indiana Pacers, from Fresno State, Paul George. Something that Pacers’ fans had been waiting to hear for over a year. Even though they loved to see PG13 back in the starting lineup, nobody could be certain he would return as the same player.
Anyone who doubted in number 13, saying he would never be able to get back to the level of play he had before the career injury, boy were they wrong. How is this for a line? 23.7 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game, 4.0 assists per game, and 2.0 steals per game, all stats currently held by George. He is averaging a career high in both points and steals and this is a comeback season for the ages.
Most fans would have been happy with him just playing all forty-two games at this point, but to be putting up these types of numbers is an overachievement. Fans around the NBA took notice of George’s numbers and decided that he deserved to be named a 2016 Eastern Conference All-Star starter, and rightfully so.
Obviously everyone around the Pacers’ organization is extremely happy for George, but how does he feels about this honor? He explains it here.
George came in third when it came to total votes for the Eastern All-Star starters, tallying 711,595. LeBron James (1,089,206) and Dwyane Wade (941,466) came in first and second for the Eastern voting.
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This is a huge step in the comeback process for PG-13. Next up on his list has to be getting the Pacers back into playoff form. After that he can start focusing on making the Pacers a top team in the East. Everything will follow in its place after that. Look for big things to come from George in the second half of the season.