Thursday brought encouraging news for Pacers fans as they watched video of Paul George dunking in practice, another step in his long road back to playing NBA basketball. When he went down in August, Indiana fans knew that the 2014-15 season was over before it had even began.
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The Pacers have tried to stay alive in the playoff race, but without having PG to close out games, Indiana has struggled to win in the final minutes of games and given away others to inferior teams. It doesn’t help that the team has had a ludicrous number of injuries this season with the rest of the team as well.
But the light at the end of the tunnel has been the return of Paul George.
Whether that comes this year or next season, the team and fans alike know that the All-Star-caliber wing can turn Indiana into a playoff-caliber team. Paul George won’t fix all of Indiana’s problems, but having him back will help shore up the defense and give the Pacers someone who can create his own shot in clutch situations.
The time line since August has been a slow and steady climb for Paul George, but he’s been checking off milestones along the way.
Paul George’s Injury
On August 1, most NBA fans might have forgotten there was basketball even being played, or even why. NBA junkies however, were keeping an eye on the intersquad scrimmage between Team USA.
Everything was looking like a standard exhibition game until Paul George went up to block James Harden’s shot. What looked like a routine block attempt quickly became a career– and, possibly, franchise-altering play.
PG landed with his leg hitting the base of a basket stanchion at an awkward angle, breaking his fibula and tibia as his weight came down on his leg. Within seconds, everyone knew what had happened and what it meant, and that quickly echoed across Twitter and the rest of the internet.
Within days surgery had been done and fans support was pouring in, and Paul George was vowing to come back better than ever. Team USA showed their support for PG, but with the FIBA tournament underway and NBA teams getting ready for the season, Paul George would soon be going through the toughest portions of his early recovery, away from the spotlight.
Paul George’s Recovery
It has been 23 weeks since the injury, but the signs of progress have been steady along the way. He did anything he could to show that he wasn’t going to let the injury slow him down any more than it had to.
A few weeks after the injury, PG participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, keeping his cast dry while raising awareness and money for a good cause. He also found time to catch a Indianapolis Colts game and then pose with matching casts with Robert Mathis at Roy Hibbert’s wedding. We all should have known PG would take advantage of his downtime by doing one of his favorite pastimes: going fishing, including one trip with former Pacer coach and current Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw. PG also found a little time to work on his golf game too, but the small glimpses of returning to normal activity were far from official reports on his health, and only led to more speculation of if and when a return this season was possible.
Updates were common, but there wasn’t much to say other than he was getting better.
On September 29 Pacers fans finally got to see the first glimpse of recovery as George showed up to media day without a walking boot. Sure, it was just for photos, but it was the first time we saw him without it. It was the first time we saw him look, and the key word being look, like he would play basketball again. Around this time, the rumors that Paul George could be ready for the playoffs began, and the man himself gave them more weight as he said the thought it was a possibility.
About a month later, on October 20, we got another glimpse at the baby steps in PG’s recovery.
In practice he was beginning to shoot standing 3-point shots. He wasn’t putting his full weight into it, but this was Paul George doing some sort of basketball activity. It was tangible progress, and that’s all the fans really wanted or needed. They wanted to know that things were going to get better, and this was another step in that direction.
A day later we saw Paul George was finally ready to play 1-on-1… with his dog. Sure, the dog only played average defense and couldn’t wrangle in a rebound, but PG was moving a little side-to-side, and again, looking like a basketball player in some way. At the end of October, three months removed from the injury, we saw him knocking down more 3-pointers in a game of Around the World, but the reality was hitting that the 2014-15 regular season was ready to begin, and Paul George would not part of it.
We’d have to get used to the only way we’d seeing him play was on NBA2k. You could buy his shoes, but he wouldn’t be wearing them on the court. At games he was sitting behind the scorer’s table to keep his leg safe, leading to the joke that he was now David Benner’s intern, but at least he was well-dressed for the job. We were missing him, LeBron was missing him, and we all knew Indiana had taken a step back.
The season began and it was clear Indiana was struggling without George’s defense and scoring, and the additional injuries weren’t helping either. Little in the way of updates had came out after the season began. 2014 ended with Paul George being the most googled NBA player, but for all the wrong reasons.
So far in 2015, it had been mostly quiet with the exception of a tidbit about PG mentoring Julius Randle about handling the recovery process, and a video of George hitting a half-court shot. But Paul George shooting was nothing new, and fans were still anxious for another update.
Then Paul George dunked a practice.
It was the most evidence we’d seen to date that Paul George was closer to playing NBA basketball. It was just practice, but there wasn’t any hesitation about landing on his leg or putting weight on it. He looked like a normal basketball player. He still has plenty of rust to shake off before playing in an actual game, but for once he looked like he was capable of playing basketball in the NBA again. And maybe we shouldn’t be as surprised: David West told Pacers.com’s Mark Montieth that PG dunked in December during a practice in Portland, away from the cameras.
"Hill is expected back sometime this month, and there’s still a glimmer of hope for George to return before the season is complete. West doesn’t allow himself to dream of that, however. He “damn near lost it” when he saw George dunk the ball when the Pacers were in Portland last week, but he’s like everyone else in the Pacers’ organization: he doesn’t want George taking any chances.“That’s unfair to him,” West said. “He’s got his whole career ahead of him. Being a fan of his, I want him to be healthy. I just want the best for him in the looooooong run.”"
What’s Next for Paul George?
The next thing to look for is some evidence or video of Paul George going full-speed in practice, making contact with other players. Simply, playing real basketball.
Right now he’s still running drills and making basketball-like movements, but he isn’t playing basketball as he’ll need to quiet yet. He has a lot of rust to shake off and physically has to get back into playing shape before he’ll be ready. That will be the hardest part because there won’t be a highlight clip like there is for Paul George’s dunk. It will be a judgement call by Paul George, Frank Vogel and Larry Bird. That won’t be happening for at least a few more months.
The road to Paul George’s return has hit another milestone, and we’re one step closer to him reaching his destination.