Paul George Gets The Ultimate Litmus Test Again Versus LeBron James & Miami Heat In Eastern Conference Finals

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The Miami Heat have a huge target on their back as they boast a roster led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They are the back to back NBA champions and have won the Eastern Conference 3 seasons in a row. Outside of the San Antonio Spurs nobody in the Eastern Conference has come as close to dethroning the Miami Heat as the Indiana Pacers. Although they have lost to the Heat in their last 2 playoff series they still have beaten them a combined 5 times in the playoffs over the past 2 years. They have gotten progressively closer year after year and now may be their time to dethrone the defending world champions. They took Miami to game 7 last year and came up short but for Paul George not only is it his teams chance to prove the world wrong but his chance to get over the huge individual barrier known as LeBron James.

It’s no secret that Paul George has a man-crush on LeBron James, this is a guy who gave LeBron a high five after James drilled a buzzer beater 3-pointer in the middle of playoff game. That made many old school traditional basketball fans very sick but Paul George has even went as far as saying that he would want LeBron to mentor him. “It would be great to be able to pick his brain, pick his mind and just talk about the game because I believe he is a player who can help get me to the next level and continue to get the next level. I wish someday we have that relationship where he is someone I can talk to-not during the season because I’m to competitive during the season maybe during the summertime” said George about a possible mentorship from James. Paul George is trying to dethrone LeBron so this quote caught the basketball world off guard when he made it, you just hope it isn’t one of those things where he respects LeBron too much. If he wanted someone to mentor and talk about the game with he has this guy named Larry Bird who is his general manager that was every bit as great as LeBron James back in his day with the Boston Celtics.

Paul George is a star in this league and the best 2-way player we have in the NBA right now. This past season he was the only player in the league finish top 10 in points (9th-1,737), defensive rating (3rd-97.02) and defensive win shares (2nd-6.38). Keep in mind that he is still only 23-years old and has improved his points per game and free throw percentage total every year he’s been in the league, players usually have their prime years in the 25-30 age range and Paul George still has room to grow within the next few seasons. He’s very young and his ascension to stardom was rapid as he went from most improved player in the league to going toe to toe with LeBron James in the East Finals last season. From an all-around statistical perspective Paul George flourishes in many facets of the game but the Pacers need him to be special this series if they want to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.

If you go back and look at last years conference finals against the Miami Heat every game that Paul George was in the positives for plus/minus the Pacers won every game with the exception of 1 game which was the first game of the series where the Pacers lost in overtime because George overcommited on LeBron and gave him a free run for the game winning basket. When George plays well the Pacers usually win, he needs to have a consistent series and when need be, take over that role as the late game closer for the Pacers offensively. “Just being a closer, that’s working on my shooting, that’s working on my conditioning and being the closer for this team” these were the words of Paul George speaking on the intangibles he wanted to develop in the off-season immediately following last years game 7 loss in Miami. Now is his chance to apply everything he said in that interview as well as all the work he put in during the summer against the Heat and get his team over the hump that has alluded them for 2 seasons now.

Its been a roller coaster season for the Indiana Pacers and through it all they still made the Eastern Conference finals. Can Paul George be the focal point in the Pacers getting over the hump? We know that he is an all-star, an elite wing defender and the clear cut face of the franchise but there comes a time where great players get over the hump. Will Paul George get over LeBron and the Heat and remind the world that he was an MVP candidate earlier this year? That remains to be seen but the way I see it,this series will be one of the series defining ones in the career of Paul George.