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The Indiana Pacers are now 4-3 when George Hill plays, and his skill set, energy, and high-level play has made this team look much more formidable when he is on the court. His late-game heroics helped the Pacers beat the Orlando Magic on Sunday and his team-high plus/minus of +14 was nearly enough to get Indiana a huge comeback win against the Miami Heat last Friday.
So of course, on some level, the team wants to get him back into the starting lineup. And coach Frank Vogel knows that playing Hill for 35-40 minutes per game could help get his team back into the playoffs.
But the Pacers aren’t going to push it.
They will keep George Hill on a minutes restriction for the “foreseeable future” so that he doesn’t re-aggravate the leg injuries that have caused him to miss 39 of the team’s 46 games this season.
Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reported the news.
"Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel reiterated Tuesday that guard George Hill (left groin strain) needs to have his minutes per game kept around 20 for the foreseeable future.“We don’t want him to reinjure it,” Vogel said after the light practice before Tuesday night’s game against Toronto at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. “It’s not a challenge from my standpoint to keep him at that because once we started expanding (the minutes played) the last time we lost him for 11 games, and we’re not interested in doing that again.“We’ve got to be smart with it and hopefully soon we can increase (the minutes).”"
Also included in the article is the fact that C.J. Miles will miss his second straight game after injuring his left groin just 7 minutes into the Miami game.
Obviously, the injury bug has been real and profound for the Indiana Pacers this year. And given the team’s slim chances of going deep into playoffs this season, caution seems like the only appropriate course.
But all the holdouts and long recovery times have to make you question whether the franchise is pulling away from its desire to actually make the playoffs. There has yet to be any indication that they will sell off players for draft picks and cap room, but perhaps they are now eyeing a high draft pick more than the #8 seed.