





MIAMI – Every day, Paul George marched into the gymnasium on the UNLV campus and immersed himself into the education of a young basketball lifetime. As an understudy practice player for USA Basketball, his assignment was the impossible: Come take turns guarding Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. Come take your beating, young fella.

Ten months ago, the NBA's biggest stars were preparing for the Olympics in London. George was preparing for the NBA's biggest stars.

"We were there to be practice dummies," George said late Friday. "Guys would say, 'You understand what they're doing to us, right?' "

"Yeah," George responded. "So?"

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From the USA Select scrimmages in July to Game 2 of these Eastern Conference finals on Friday night, George had come so far, so fast, that suddenly his Pacers are standing eye-to-eye with the defending NBA champions. Suddenly, LeBron James wasn't treating George like an understudy, but a starry peer.

Before the stunning fourth-quarter stand that delivered the Pacers a 97-93 victory on the shores of Biscayne Bay, before a genius James' performance of 36 points and eight rebounds had been punctuated with two turnovers in the final minute, the NBA's Most Valuable Player delivered a burgeoning young star a validation of his rapid ascent.

After George leaped into the rafters to impale the 6-foot-10 Chris Andersen with a dunk, James rushed the ball down the floor and hit a 30-footer at the buzzer of the third period. It was a magnificent sequence, two spectacular plays within a 5.1-second window that inspired James to change direction on his way to the Heat's huddle.

James chased down George, reached out his hand and pressed palm on palm.

"I got you back, young fella," James told him.

For a moment, George had to gather himself. Here unfolded a most surreal scene in a surreal rise out of mid-major college basketball, the evolution of James' dutiful understudy into James' problem.

"That was a moment for me," George said, "that I'll always remember."

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For the Pacers, this was an acknowledgment from James that they're beyond formidable, that they've grown into a genuine threat. After David West made the two deflections on James' passes in the final minute, something struck West about the Indiana celebration on the floor to commemorate a Game 2 victory: There was none. A year ago in the conference semifinals, the Pacers danced and hugged and celebrated a split in South Florida.

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