Why Paul George’s March Madness Saved the Indiana Pacers Season

Paul George put the Indiana Pacers on this back since the month of March started. Despite all the noise of losses, injuries, and Lance Stephenson, PG is making an argument for making the All-NBA team.

After the last four wins, it is easy to say the Indiana Pacers are finally getting it together. While that may be true for the team as a whole, Paul George has been a constant strength for the Pacers since the beginning of March. Sure, there was some post-deadline weirdness for him, but for the last 21 games, he’s been a monster.

It now looks like Playoff Paul George decided he needed to show up early this season, and the Indiana Pacers desperately needed him to.

While Indiana’s record is roughly where it was at when George’s streak began, it is clear he’s a big reason why they recovered and now sit in 7th place in the Eastern Conference. If George hadn’t carried the team for the last month and a half, it is easy to think they might have bottomed out entirely instead of altering wins and losses. They are only a game or two from being out of the playoff picture, after all.

To drive that point home, all of Indiana’s other starters had their worst month in March, but Paul George was powering himself up. From the start of the season to end of February, George averaged 21.7 points a game while shooting 44.1% from the floor and 37.7% from 3-point range. Not bad, but nothing that truly screamed All-NBA.

But then Paul George’s March madness began.

Since then, Paul George is 5th in the NBA in scoring while making 50.1% of his shots from the field and 41.8% from beyond the arc.

Paul George isn’t just playing better than he did to start the season. He is playing better than all but a few players in the NBA right now. He’s taking and making shots from almost everywhere on the floor with ease.

He is also grabbing more rebounds, handing out more assists, and stealing more passes than before while turning the ball over less. Other than a modest dip in his free throw shooting, he has been doing everything better for the past 21 games.

Which leads us to a very important — and possibly franchise-altering —question.

Does Paul George belong on an All-NBA team?

While every Indiana Pacers fan would likely say yes, it isn’t an easy choice for those making the votes.

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Paul George is fighting for the last spot on the third team (in some voters’ minds) with Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward, Draymond Green and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Any of those players have a case, but it is hard to know how much the last 21 games might have pushed things in Paul George’s favor.

It isn’t just a matter of respect for PG and the Pacers. There are 73 million reasons why the Pacers hope PG makes one of the three All-NBA teams. If he does, Indiana gets a very big bargaining chip when trying to convince Paul George to stay.

If he stays, the Indiana Pacers remain a perennial playoff team while Myles Turner only continues to get better. Jeff Teague and C.J. Miles then have more than monetary reasons to stick around. If PG stays, there is an talented core of players to build around, including Thaddeus Young and maybe even Lance Stephenson.

But if Paul George leaves, the franchise must reset. They will need another star to build a title contender around, and players like Teague, Miles, and Young won’t have any reasons other than money to remain with the Pacers.

Tonight’s a very big night not just for this season, but if the Indiana Pacers make the playoffs, that might get Paul George on to the All-NBA team (and make him eligible for a big extension), and that might keep him in Indiana for years to come.

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With all respect to Lance Stephenson and what he has done off the bench, that shouldn’t overshadow the real reason why the Indiana Pacers are a game away from making the playoffs. That reason is Paul George.